Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | February 7, 2022 | Worcester Business Journal 9 % from underrepresented Position minority groups Residents 7.7% Practicing ophthalmologists 6% Race/ethnicities of the 6% of practicing ophthalmologists who are from underrepresented minority groups Hispanic 3.3% Black 2.5% Native American 0.2% National racial diversity in ophthalmology Source: American Journal of Ophthalmology patriot, and for her, leaving the country was the worst thing you could do." Ultimately, although it wasn't easy, Schaal followed her passions, as well as the opportunities awaiting her in the U.S., which she believed would have been much harder to come by at home. She spent the next 12 years working her way up the academic ladder, at the end of which she found herself at an- other unexpected crossroads: whether to pack up and move her family, once again – this time, to Worcester. She felt very afraid. But then, she thought of her four daughters, and all that she'd learned at the AAMC seminar. "I said, 'You know, I am afraid to go – very afraid to go – but if I don't take it, this is really a bad example for all the women that I mentor, and also very bad example for my four daughters that will need to, in their lives, either take career opportunities or not,'" Schaal said. Making changes e U.S. has about 122 academic oph- thalmology departments, Schaal said, and when she took the chair position at UMass Chan Medical School, only six of those departments were led by women. Nearly six years later, that number has risen to about 20. Suffice to say, much work still needs to be done, and not just in ophthal- mology. In the years since her pivotal AAMC experience and joining the ranks at UMass, Schaal has made promoting intersectional diversity part of her job. Or, jobs. She now not only chairs the ophthalmology and visual sciences department, but serves as president of UMass Memorial Medical Group. In these roles, she mentors, trains, and helps recruits physicians and stu- dents from diverse backgrounds. "I don't know how other leaders feel about her presence, all I know is that I'm so glad that it's there, because she is able to make my job easier because she represents what diversity can be just by virtue of her presence," said Dr. Brian Gibbs, vice president and chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer at UMass Memorial Health in Worcester. Schaal, he said, has leadership DNA and is someone who leads the wake. "She's had a very sincere and concert- ed effort to make an impact on the face of the healthcare workforce, whether it's through the physicians or through her residents or her students," said Dr. Terence Flotte, provost and executive deputy chancellor at UMass Chan. Among the programs Schaal has started include the school's ophthalmol- ogy residency, which Flotte said was the first new U.S. ophthalmology residency program to launch in the last 20 years. Initiatives like that are at the heart of Schaal's work. Academic medicine – the research, the teaching, the mentoring – drives her and fills her with energy. While many things have changed for Schaal over the years, her love for that particular corner of the medical field hasn't wavered. A groundbreaker in her own right, it's just as important, to Schaal, to make way for those who are coming next. W National gender diversity in ophthalmology Source: AMA Masterfile Central Mass. healthcare leaders, by gender Largest hospitals Top executive Gender UMass Memorial Medical Center, Worcester Michael Gustafson, president Male MetroWest Medical Center, Framingham Ava Collins, CEO Female Saint Vincent Hospital, Worcester Carolyn Jackson, CEO Female HealthAlliance-Clinton Hospital, Leominster Steve Roach, president Male Westborough Behavioral Healthcare Hospital, Westborough Michelle Lynn, CEO Female Largest health insurers Top executive Gender Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts Inc., Boston Andrew Dreyfus, president & CEO Male Tufts Health Public Plans Inc., Watertown Cain Hayes, Tufts Health Plan and Male Harvard Pilgrim Health Care combined Boston Medical Center Health Plan Inc., Charlestown Heather Thiltgen, president Female Tufts Associated HMO Inc., Watertown Cain Hayes, Tufts Health Plan and Male Harvard Pilgrim Health Care combined Fallon Health Inc., Worcester Richard Burke, president & CEO Male Largest physican groups Top executive Gender UMass Memorial Medical Group, Worcester Shlomit Schaal, president Female Reliant Medical Group, Worcester Tarek Elsawy, president & CEO Male Steward Health Care Network Central Mass. Local Chapter, Needham John Donlan, president Male Milford Regional Physician Group, Milford Patrick McSweeney, president Male Harrington Physician Services, Southbridge Edward Moore, president & COO Male Schaal chairs the ophthalmology department at UMass Chan Medical School and serves as president of UMass Memorial Medical Group in Worcester. Ophthalmologists with direct patient care who are women, as of 2015 22.7% W O M E N I N L E A D E R S H I P F O C U S Source: WBJ Book of Lists

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