March is Women’s History Month, a time designated for highlighting the many contributions of women throughout history. What better way to recognize this important month than to feature NYU Langone Health team members who are themselves making history? For the first time in NYU Langone Health’s nearly 150-year affiliation with Bellevue Hospital Center, all of its chief surgical residents are women.

Members of this elite class, set to graduate in June, have already secured notable fellowships across the country.

“We recruited the most qualified, competent people for these positions,” said H. Leon Pachter, MD, George David Stewart Professor of Surgery, Chair of the Department of Surgery. “Every single one of these chief residents is outstanding.”
Each with impressive credentials and diverse backgrounds, including places of origin ranging from Jamaica to Guam, these surgeons represent the best of their profession:

• Alexandra Leon Guerrero, MD – Minimally Invasive Fellowship, USC
• Rachel B. Webman, MD – Private Practice
• Megan Jenkins, MD – Minimally invasive Fellowship, Hackensack University Hospital
• Irene Isabel Lim, MD – Pediatric Colorectal Fellowship, University of Cincinnati
• Donnele Daley, MD – Oncology Fellowship, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
• Gabriela Garcia-Nores, MD – Plastic Surgery Fellowship, Emory University
• Mia Shapiro, MD – Minimally Invasive Fellowship, Brown University
• Jaclyn Clark, MD –Trauma/Critical Care/Acute Care Surgery, University of Maryland Medical Center, Institute for Shock Trauma

With more and more women entering medical school each year, one might wonder if this milestone is really all that unusual across academic medical centers. Indeed, it is. According to the Association of Women Surgeons, an international educational and professional organization dedicated to enhancing the interaction and exchange of information between women surgeons, as of 2015 women comprised only 19.2 percent of the surgeons in the United States.

The organization focuses on addressing some of the unique challenges that women surgeons face, including balancing family planning with the demands of a surgical career.

“The truth of the matter is that while surgery is still a male-dominated field, we are extremely proud of being able to recruit women who are highly skilled surgeons to be our chief residents,” said Pachter.