18: Increasing Your Creativity Quotient in Your Chosen Career with Dr. Eliza Chin

What is your creativity quotient in YOUR chosen career? Have you ever thought about it? Sometimes we fall into the trap of thinking that only certain careers allow for creativity, but, in reality, there is room for a creative approach almost everywhere! My guest today shares how she finds creativity in her work as a physician, and how women through generations have been creative in their endeavors to make a difference in the field of medicine.

Dr. Eliza Chin is a past president and current Executive Director of the American Medical Women’s Association (AMWA). I’ve known her for several years and have been privileged to work on projects with her. She is an active physician, author, and leader with many skills and ideas. Her interests include mentoring young women in medicine, geriatric medicine, women’s health, medical humanities, women’s leadership, and the history of women in medicine. Join me to learn more about Eliza’s creative approach!

What you’ll hear in this episode:

• How Eliza began her work with AMWA as she wrote her first book
• The challenges of balancing motherhood and being a physician
• Her dream: to collect and publish stories of women in medicine
• How the different divisions of AMWA help young women in the medical field
• Eliza’s current practice and her work in different medical fields in her career
• Initiatives and the mission of AMWA, covering the spectrum of women’s health and sex/gender issues
• The recent focus of AMWA on arts and humanities
• Coming soon to AMWA: a literary focus on written works by women in medicine and the launch of a Music in Medicine division
• The creative influences on Eliza’s life
• One of Eliza’s current projects: an exhibition of women physicians in WWI
• How AMWA grants support medical clinics around the world
• Why AMWA is still going strong after 102 years!
• Why Eliza and her twin sister both became physicians
• The important connection between medicine and creativity: it’s all about relationships!

Resources:

www.amwa-doc.org

This Side of Doctoring: Reflections from Women in Medicine by Eliza Chin