WESTERN Health’s Dr Melissa Yang is one of a trio of female doctors in Melbourne inspiring change in their profession. Along with Dr Anna Dunn and Dr Naghmeh Radhakrishna, Dr Yang has set up a website called the Doc to Doc Network.
It follows the tragic deaths by suicide of four doctors in Australia last year, which thrust the spotlight onto some serious cultural issues in medicine and attracted significant attention by the mainstream media.
Dr Yang, Dr Dunn and Dr Radhakrishna also wanted to address the growing sense of agitation among female doctors about the persisting gender imbalance, and the myriad factors that lead to mental illness and burnout in the medical profession.
They began by setting up a Facebook Group for female doctors – ‘Doc to Doc’ – and were amazed by the power of this online community to overcome the barriers of hierarchy, and geography, to bring together people from different specialties with diverse perspectives and experiences to contribute.
Fast forward six months, and the Doc to Doc Network is a website which supports female doctors around Australia through a mentoring program, education, an online member directory and networking opportunities. The opening episode of their podcast ‘Can I speak to the doctor?’ has been recorded and the event at the Dream Factory in Footscray on February 28 promises a line-up of some of the biggest hitting names in the business.
The first step is growing their community and providing a supportive environment to improve the career and leadership opportunities for women. The next step is advocating for systemic change. The big picture is all about equality in Medicine.
Tickets for the Doc to Doc Event ‘Agents of Change’ are available now at www.doctodoc.network/agents-of-change/
To join the Doc to Doc community go to www.doctodoc.network/memberships/
