Medscape: The Women in Healthcare Leadership Podcast Series
Medscape Education’s Hear From Her: The Women in Healthcare Leadership Podcast Series, recently interviewed Margo Minissian, PhD, ACNP, executive director of the Geri and Richard Brawerman Nursing Institute at Cedars-Sinai, about how mentorship empowers women in healthcare leadership.
Minissian, the Simms/Mann Family Foundation Endowed Chair of Nurse Education, Innovation and Research, told podcast host Jelena Spyropoulos that female mentors played a defining role in her career by encouraging her to pursue opportunities she had not initially imagined for herself.
“Every aspect of my development has been influenced by females in healthcare,” she said. “And I would not be where I am today without several of them.”
Among those mentors was C. Noel Bairey Merz, MD, director of the Barbra Streisand Women’s Heart Center in the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai, who encouraged Minissian to explore research and expand her professional ambitions.
Minissian, who oversees mentorship efforts for thousands of nurses at Cedars-Sinai, told Spyropoulos that cultivating a network of three or four mentors who can offer professional, strategic and personal guidance is critical for career growth—particularly for women, who are often more likely than men to hesitate before pursuing new opportunities.
“Every time you get a mentor, and then they’re talking with someone, and your name comes up and something good is said about you,” she said, “you’re actually working on your professionalism. They’re advocating for you and you’re not even there.”
For young women beginning their careers, Minissian emphasized the importance of self-advocacy, saying: “You’re going to hear ‘no’ a lot, and ignore it. Keep pressing forward, especially if you can feel the fire in your belly.”
Listen to the complete episode from Hear From Her | The Women in Healthcare Leadership Podcast Series.