Page 39 - RU RWJ Medicine Magazine • Winter 2021

in Diabetes (Look AHEAD) trial. She says, “My goal is to understand obesity and its consequences so we can better prevent, diagnose, and treat these conditions and improve the health of individual patients and the public.”
Her interest in obesity began when she was a res- ident at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and was struck by the commonness of obesity, and the overwhelming number of complications that it causes. Because obesity is difficult to treat, and many pharmaceuticals have caused severe health complications, Dr. Clark’s research instead focuses on lifestyle modifications or surgery. She currently heads an American Heart Association—funded study to investigate the role of time-restricted feeding in obesity and cardiometabolic health.
While results are pending, she and her team are examining the effects of when participants con- sume the majority of their calories on weight loss and gain. When the study began, little research had looked at this in humans.
Advancing the Careers of Women in Medicine
While her ongoing research, clinical, and educational responsibilities take up much of her time, Dr. Clark has made mentorship of women a key priority in her working life. Her efforts were recognized in 2019 when she was awarded the inaugural Elizabeth and Emily Blackwell Award for Outstanding Contributions to Advancing the Careers of Women in Medicine by the American College of Physicians.
As a fellow, Dr. Clark joined a women’s group that she went on to chair, and continued to educate women and create programming for women in academic medicine. She believes the pathway to advancement and professorship does not always recognize women’s unique strength. She shares, “For a long time there weren’t as many women in medicine. But we’ve been nearly half the medical student enrollees or more since the ‘90s. Even so,
only 25 percent of full professors are women, and just 29 percent of division chiefs and 18 percent of department chairs. I’m struck by these numbers. We should be closer to 50 percent of leadership positions by now.”
One of Dr. Clark’s goals to create more equity in leadership is to challenge approaches that are limiting women. She explains, “Clearly there are biases, conscious and unconscious, and it can be challenging to overcome the biases of what makes strong leaders and which leadership qualities are prioritized.” Dr. Clark has served on recruitment committees and encourages them to recognize that they need to be open to different styles, which are equally effective even if they don’t look the same.
As division director, Dr. Clark promoted six women to full professors in her tenure, and now just under half of the professors in that division are women. She also stresses the importance of creating a work environment that enables people to thrive by changing departmental practices.
For example, it can be challenging for caregivers of children, who are overwhelmingly women, to attend 7 a.m. meetings and stay until 7 p.m. She explains that changing something simple like meeting times can enable women to be part of the conversation.
Says Dr. Clark, “Burnout is a huge issue in medicine. Some of the things that are ‘women friendly’ are simply family friendly and are better for everyone.”
Dr. Clark stresses that women have different and important skills. She explains, “Multiple inputs are important to yield innovative solutions. Diversity across many dimensions advances care and helps patients. This is why I set out to become a doctor in the first place.” M
“For a long time there weren’t as many women in
medicine. But we’ve been nearly half the medical student enrollees or more since the ‘90s. Even so, only 25 percent of full professors are women, and just 29 percent of division chiefs and 18 percent of department chairs. I’m struck by these numbers. We should be closer to 50 percent of leadership positions by now.”
Robert Wood Johnson | MEDICINE 37