International Women’s Day: Celebrating women at Sinai Health

“It means I need to stand up for all women in our society to ensure that they are treated equally and with respect. We have to advocate for those who can’t advocate for themselves. We all have a role to support women.”

- Darlene Rawlins, Food Services Supervisor, Food Services at Hennick Bridgepoint Hospital
 

“This is a reminder to advocate for gender equality, women’s rights and the empowerment of women. We need to create a world with an equitable society for everyone, regardless of gender.”

- Foroozan Zayani, Clinical Nurse Specialist of Education, Hennick Bridgepoint Hospital 
 

“A key step in empowering women’s voices is to make sure they have a seat at the table. Research is a demanding field, and this can be especially challenging for women striving to balance their careers and home life. To support their retention in science, we must recognize these challenges, provide mentorship, and offer flexible scheduling to meet their needs.”

- Karen Colwill, Director of Operations, Network Biology Collaborative Centre
 

“To lead with compassion. We can achieve great things by caring for one another. This extends to being a compassionate mentor to others, helping where I can and paving the way.” 

- Marianne Saragosa, Embedded Nurse Scientist, Science of Care Institute

“Advocate for yourself with the same passion and determination that you do for your patients. Your voice matters."

-  Alexandra Pomeroy, Nurse Practitioner, Mature Women’s Health, Mount Sinai Hospital

“Just be you. When I was training to be a physician, I believed I needed to conform to previously established (predominantly male-defined) norms to be accepted into my profession. This might have taken the form of suppressing personality traits that embodied who I was or adopting schedules that did not align with the life I had. I thought if I showed less emotion, hid my tears during tragic cases, and worked ridiculous hours despite two babies at home, I could better fit in and ‘keep up.’ A wise female mentor once said to me, ‘Just be you. You are worthy and they will adapt’. She was right. Traditional norms are made to be broken.”

- Dr. Laveena Munshi, Critical Care Physician, Clinician Scientist and Associate Professor, Critical Care Medicine, Mount Sinai Hospital 
 

“For the past 19 years, I have been inspired by my female co-workers at Hennick Bridgepoint Hospital! They are strong, independent, fun, resilient, caring, generous, and hard-working. Their positive energy is the reason I enjoy coming to work every day!”

- Armida Brondial, Lead Hand, Environmental Services, Hennick Bridgepoint Hospital 

“I have been lucky to work with a lot of strong female role models, not only pharmacists. Watching them advocate for their roles on the team in order to improve patient care is inspiring. It’s important to show how hard we work. As a pharmacist, a lot of the work we do can happen behind the scenes. Things like reviewing if a medicine is safe to go or not, checking for drug interactions, allergies, etc. It’s not about getting credit or recognition, but about promoting how you are able to best help your patients.”

- Kim Le, Pharmacist, Clinical trials and Oncology, Mount Sinai Hospital