Residents’ Corner

Welcome!

Welcome to the Residents Corner of WTS!  We’re excited to launch this portion of the website designed to encourage and support women cardiothoracic residents. Many of us are the only females at our institution – but with WTS you are not alone!  And that’s one of the best parts of the WTS — providing a support network.  To start off this Residents Corner we will be posting links of WTS opportunities for residents, articles that may be of interest, and links to other resources.  In the future we envision adding resident profiles and other content.  If you have specific ideas and/or want to get involved please email Elizabeth at ehs4947@gmail.com.  Happy operating!

Elizabeth Stephens, Kimberly Holst, and Tessa Watt,  WTS Resident Liaisons

Helpful Links:

• Undergraduate and medical students, residents and fellows are invited to attend the Women in Surgery Career Symposium Feb. 14-16, 2020.
• Request a WTS Mentor
• Find a WTS mentor: https://wtsnet.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/WTS_Mentors_7_6_101.pdf
• Carpenter Scholarship (medical student or general surgery): https://wtsnet.org/awards-mentoring/wts-carpenter-scholarship/
• WTS Scholarship: https://wtsnet.org/awards-mentoring/program/
• Scanlan/WTS Traveling Mentorship Award (medical student or general surgery): https://wtsnet.org/awards-mentoring/scanlan/
• TSRA: http://www.tsranet.org
• View the talks from the Cardiothoracic Careers College! Follow link to the schedule and click on individual titles to view the presentations.

Articles of Interest:

• Gender Autonomy in the OR
• Letter to a Young Female Physician
• Gender in CT Surgery Training
• The Confidence Gap
• Men and Women Differ in Communication
• From female surgery resident to leader: the importance of emotional intelligence and feedback
• Female surgical residents: balance between training and motherhood 
• Beyond #ILookLikeASurgeon
• I Spent My Fertile Years Training to Be a Surgeon. Now, It Might Be Too Late for Me to Have a Baby
• Imposter Syndrome

Blogs:

• Light the Flame: A Message from One Underrepresented Minority to Another, by Dr. Ian C. Bostock
• When Gender Bias in Surgery is Explicit, by Dr. Brandi Scully
• Accepting Help as a Resident, by Dr. Erin Corsini
• Wellness in Cardiothoracic Surgery, by Dr. Amy Fiedler
• The Value of Mentorship, by Dr. Simran Randhawa

Featured CT Surgery Resident Profile:

To see all previous features, please check out this link!

Submit your nominations for future features here.

Meghana Helder, MD (resident)

“I chose the field of cardiac surgery because it is one of the few surgical fields were we get to improve the quality of life of patients along with the quantity of life.  There are very few things more gratifying than seeing a patient come in in a wheelchair and leave the hospital walking.  It is a challenging, humbling, and constantly evolving field.  The fulfillment that comes from being able to call this my life’s work complements so well with the personal life.  I have been fortunate enough to have a husband who is not only supportive but pushes me to be the best I can be in all aspects of my life so that the two portions of my life can be in harmony. “

Dr. Helder was born in Hyderabad, India and moved to Salida, Colorado at the age of 7.  She moved through multiple states in the country including Nebraska, Mississippi, California, Florida, and Iowa growing up because of her father’s job.  She went to medical school at St. Louis University and joined the 4+3 program at Mayo, and she plans to graduate in 2019 after taking 2 years to do translational research involving decellularizing porcine valves with the hopes of recellularizing with autologous cells to make a durable, compatible valve prosthetic.  Her plan at the time of this feature is to join North Central Heart Institute in Sioux Falls, South Dakota after graduation, where she will focus on aortic endovascular work, TAVR, and open adult cardiac surgery along with community-focused research.  She states that she feels lucky to be married to Tyson Helder, who is a real-estate attorney, and to have just had a beautiful girl, Elia Ram Helder who is now 1 month old as of May 2019.

Dr. Helder was nominated by Elizabeth Stephens, because she “is a successful 4+3 resident pursuing career in adult cardiac and TAVR.”