February Greetings

I’m wishing you all warmth and love as we head into chilly February.

Towards the end of the month, we’ll hit the date February 20th, 2020.

02/20/20.

I, for one, am preparing for a wealth of puns about perfect eyesight. Let me add to the onslaught of conversation about 20/20 vision that is sure to come our way this month and suggest that now would be an excellent time to check in with yourself and get clear about your vision for the future. Think personally. Think professionally. But don’t be afraid to think about your greater community. What sort of future do you want for your country? For the world?

Only with clarity of purpose can we make meaningful steps toward the future we desire.

Spotlight On Dr. Tsion Firew

Each month, I highlight women doing extraordinary work in Emergency Medicine. This month, I am honored to share the work of Dr. Tsion Firew.

Dr. Tsion Firew serves as an advisor to the Minister of Health of Ethiopia on Emergency Care and Strategic Partnership and works as an assistant professor of emergency medicine and clinical faculty at Columbia University in New York.

Under her role at the Ministry, she supports and oversees several programs. These include Emergency Care Capacity Building programs through training and research, Emergency Preparedness and Response of Ethiopia’s Public Health Institute, and mobilizing resources to assist with Ethiopia’s Health Sector Transformation Plan.

Furthermore, at the Ministry of Health, she established a women’s leadership forum, a platform for both men and women to engage in dialogues of tackling gender-based violence and implicit biases in the workplace. These dialogues have helped inform both men and women on how to build a gender-sensitive environment and how to foster women's leadership within their institution.

Born and raised in Ethiopia, Dr. Firew received her undergraduate degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of Georgia. She then received her medical education at New York Medical College and completed her residency in Emergency Medicine at New York University and Bellevue Hospital. During her fellowship, she received her Masters in Public Health from Columbia University in Population and Family Health along with a certificate in Humanitarian Assistance.

She has had the opportunity to respond in a humanitarian crisis in Haiti and recently in Mosul Iraq during the war against ISIS. Before joining the Ministry, she worked on Emergency Medicine Assessment and Capacity building in Ghana, Ethiopia and worked as an intern at the WHO's headquarters in Geneva under the WHO’s Emergency, Trauma, and Acute Care program. Dr. Tsion Firew played a vital role in advocating for the proposal of the resolution on Emergency Care and co-authored the resolution with colleagues at MOH and garnered support from member states to lead the adoption of the resolution at the World Health Assembly.

Learn more about Dr. Firew by following her on Twitter and checking out her talk at FIX 19, Women Leaders in a Man's House.

Around the Web

Thinking About a Job or Career Change? Read This

“A full-time worker will spend roughly 80,000 hours at work over the course of her working life. Setting aside the fact that that can account for a majority of your waking hours, consider the intangible costs. If you’re in the wrong career, that could mean tens of thousands of hours spent devoted to something you don’t even really care about, much less feel is your passion.”

#MeToo in Medicine: The after-effects of harassment

“In an episode of the “AMA Moving Medicine” podcast, Tiffani Bell, MD, a child and adolescent psychiatry resident in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and a former AMA Resident and Fellows Section representative, is joined by David Gabor, a partner at the Wagner Law Group in Boston. Together they discuss the psychological effects and legal ramifications of sexual harassment and discrimination.”

'Why We Can't Sleep' Documents The Unique Pressures On Gen X Women

"Being middle-aged in America right now as a middle-class American woman is different than it was for our mothers and grandmothers," she says, "and for a lot of women — not for all of them, but for a lot of them — it is incredibly hard."

Where to Find Me

At the beginning of the month, I’ll be at the American College of Emergency Physicians' Emergency Department Directors Academy on February 3rd at the Omni Hotel Dallas at Park West.

I’ll also be lecturing on Communication and Conflict on February 16th at the Physician Moms Group Annual Meeting at La Cantera Resort & Spa in San Antonio, Texas.

Toward the end of the month, I’ll be in Sayulita, Mexico from February 23-28, lecurting on Adult and Pediatric Emergency Medicine and Physician Wellness.

Connect With Me

I’m so grateful to share this little corner of the internet with you every month. If you’d like to connect in other ways, here’s how:

Visit my website.

Follow me on Twitter.

Connect on LinkedIN.

Find me on Facebook.

Follow me on Instagram.

Know someone who might be interested in my monthly newsletter? They can sign up at the bottom of the homepage on my website.

And, as always, I’d love to hear from you. Reach out to me anytime by emailing hello@tracysansonmd.com.

May you have someone who mourns your absence as much as Mookie does mine when I leave for the airport.

Sincerely,

Tracy

February Newsletter ~ Wishing You Warmth and Love