Envision Physician Services leaders Rebecca Parker, M.D., Senior Vice President of Leadership and Education and Lynn Reyman, M.D., Chair of Practice Affairs Committee, will speak at a new FemInEM event, Revive 2019. The development retreat, inspired by many successful workshops at past FemInEM conferences, will focus on helping women in EM develop valuable skills and leadership qualities.

Dr. Parker and Dr. Reyman will speak to attendees about the “power of talk.” Dr. Parker said she and Dr. Reyman came up with the topic because of their past experiences serving as chairs of board of directors – Dr. Parker for the American College of Emergency Physicians and Dr. Reyman for the former Emergency Medicine Associates. 

“We’ve both attended a lot of meetings and worked our way up to eventually running those meetings. The idea for our Revive 2019 topic was to discuss how to actively participate in these situations – best steps to take, nuances, how to guide conversations, and ultimately how to move into leadership positions,” Dr. Parker said.

Dr. Parker said she wanted her presentation topic to contribute to the next generation of women in medicine rising into leadership positions.

“If you look at a variety of fields – in particular business and medicine – you’ll see that the number of women in high-level leadership positions drops to a single digit percentage-wise,” Dr. Parker said. “It will take purposeful action to change these numbers. Women who are currently in leadership positions need to speak out and say, ‘We need more women here’ and pull them up the leadership ladder.”

Dr. Reyman said she’s excited to help younger generations advocate for their patients more effectively.

“I think people need to think more about their strategies – how do you advance an agenda that’s good for everyone, both patient and physician? You need people to support your strategy,” Dr. Reyman said. “You need to identify the barriers so you can work through them.”

Dr. Reyman believes in teaching women physicians how to push for their agendas and ideas, and ultimately patients and other physicians will benefit from the effort. In her opinion, establishing and maintaining relationships is the key to encouraging colleagues to consider different or unpopular viewpoints.

Dr. Reyman and Dr. Parker both hope their involvement with Revive will empower women in medicine to participate and run meetings more confidently and to consider future leadership positions.

The three-day Revive 2019 retreat will take place February 3-5, 2019, in Scottsdale, Arizona. Attendees will enjoy a variety of individual workshops and inspiring leadership speakers. All proceeds from the event will support the gender Equity in Medicine Research Foundation. There are currently 25 tickets remaining for Revive 2019.

Learn more about the retreat or register here.