[optimal] Re: Scientific Session idea: gender in ophthalmic
- From: CPMC Ophthalmic Diagnostic Center <cpmceyelab@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "'optimal@xxxxxxxxxxxxx'" <optimal@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 9 Aug 2012 15:27:04 -0700
So glad all of the "guys" think we "gals" are up to the task.....
Denice Barsness, CRA, COMT, ROUB, CDOS, FOPS
Ophthalmic Diagnostic Center
CPMC Department of Ophthalmology
2100 Webster Street Suite 212
San Francisco CA 94115
(415) 600-3937 FAX (415) 600-6563
From: optimal-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:optimal-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Anton Drew
Sent: Thursday, August 09, 2012 3:24 PM
To: optimal@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [optimal] Re: Scientific Session idea: gender in ophthalmic
I concur with Mark, having been a Medical Photographer from 1972, who
specialised in Ophthalmic Photography while working in the Medical Photography
Department, eventually to be invited by the Professor of Surgery to become a
full time Ophthalmic Photographer in Ophthalmology. That "natural progression"
Mark mentioned.
Some 40 years later, I now have an assistant who has been with me for 8 years,
and has a far better command of IT and computer issues than me, and I gladly
let her take the reins in that department.
As far as other duties, she does what I do, and as well, I might add, making my
future transition to retirement less stressful knowing I have left the
Ophthalmology Unit in good hands. :o)
Anton Drew
On 10/08/2012, at 1:13 AM, Mark Maio wrote:
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 70's 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 80's 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 don't 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 "geek"
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
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