[optimal] Re: Scientific Session idea: gender in ophthalmic
- From: Mark Maio <markmaio@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: Optimal <optimal@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 09 Aug 2012 11:43:43 -0400
My observations on gender, having started in ophthalmic photography in 1978
after beginning my career in 1975 as a medical photographer.
Most ophthalmic photographers back in the 70¹s started as medical
photographers. The majority of ophthalmic photography (a new sub specialty
of medicine) was being done in teaching hospitals and it required not only
the knowledge of diagnostic imaging but also running a full service darkroom
and imaging support for research and educational projects. Medical
photographers were recruited or applied for ophthalmic photography positions
as a natural progression of furthering their careers. Back then I explained
my job as doing diagnostic imaging of the eye and at the same time doing all
the additional functions of a medical photographer in support of the
ophthalmology department. The majority of these photographers were male.
As many university programs started retina fellowships, a good number of
these new specialists in ophthalmology chose to go into private practice
rather than academics. As they did, the need for retina photography in
private practice increased and many ophthalmic technicians started doing the
photography, the majority of which were women. I remember sitting down with
Paul Montague as he was OPS President in the mid 80¹s and I was on the BOD
and discussing the change in gender makeup of the OPS. At the time it was
around 50/50. We looked at the BOD and BOE and saw that men made up the
majority of members running the OPS and decided to start looking for and
encouraging women to run for those positions. We figured that if 50% of our
organization was female, that percentage should be reflected in the
governing bodies. I continued this same philosophy for the four years I was
President after Paul. It would be interesting for someone to do a
retrospective look at the male/female makeup of the OPS over the years. My
guess is that the OPS is probably 75% female.
I agree with Marty that I don¹t think there is a difference between men and
women in photographic or computer problem solving ability or skills. While
working as an ophthalmic photographer I needed to learn to troubleshoot my
equipment to make sure I could continue doing diagnostic imaging on patients
every day. Did I enjoy it? No! I did it because I needed to do it. I have no
need to know how my camera or computer works, I just need to use it to do my
job. On the other hand I know women in our field who are excellent at both
troubleshooting their diagnostic imaging equipment and are quite the ³geek²
when it comes to their computers.
Mark
Mark Maio
InVision, Inc.
5445 Buckhollow Drive
Alpharetta, GA 30005
markmaio@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
404-386-5676
Consultant in ophthalmic and biomedical imaging.
Member of Adobe's Biomedical Imaging Advisory Group
My fine art photography is represented by Lumiere:
http://lumieregallery.net/wp/?p=254
On 8/9/12 10:34 AM, "angiolith@xxxxxxx" <angiolith@xxxxxxx> wrote:
> I am not able to take the bait about gender in ophthalmic photography, but
> would like to stir the pot:
>
> 1. The fact that more of the fiddlers, jury riggers, etc., are male may not
> be a gender biased finding. Most of the early ophthalmic photographers were
> male (probably because the institutions were more likely to hire males in the
> late 70'sand 80's), and these males were fiddlers and jury-riggers by
> necessity as well as by nature, since the profession was not codified yet and
> we had to do considerable problem solving.
>
> 2. The fiddlers and jury riggers, of whatever gender, are not necessarily
> better ophthalmic photographers either. When I offer to try to fix something
> I haven't tried before, I always ask the requester if he/she is OK with me
> ruining what I try to fix; the first time you try to fix something is always a
> tricky proposition. On the other hand, I have loved taking things apart since
> I was a kid. Still do - I never throw out a broken appliance or piece of
> electronics without peeking inside.
>
> 3. But is this gender based or biased? Gender or environmentally determined?
> I don't know. However, my daughter has always liked fixing and taking stuff
> apart with me, and my son (who is an expert computer weenie) could care less.
>
> 4. And Denice, I AM writing this while working (but at an office that has a
> fairly low FA volume).
>
> Marty Rothenberg
> Angiographics, Inc.
>
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