Title
Gender & Work at MD Anderson
Files
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Identifier
EscalanteC_03_20140523_Clip05
Publication Date
5-23-2014
Publisher
The Making Cancer History® Voices Oral History Collection, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
City
Houston, Texas
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Transcript
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD
And we were actually having a very lively conversation before I turned on the recorder about the situation for women at the institution, and you were saying, “Thank goodness for Dr. Margaret Kripke” [oral history interview].
Carmen Escalante, MD
Right.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD
So if you could tell me a bit. She arrived in the early eighties. You came in 1988. What did she do, do you feel, for the institution, and what changes have you seen over the course of time since you arrived?
Carmen Escalante, MD
You know, I think that she has done some marvelous things for women at the institution. I remember her when I first started. She was in the basic sciences at that point, she wasn’t at the provost level, but she was always interested. And certainly when she became an executive leader—
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD
And she was the head of Academic Affairs.
Carmen Escalante, MD
Right.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD
I’m just saying for the record.
Carmen Escalante, MD
Right—that she certainly made it a priority of hers to work on, I guess, showcasing women and their talents, and she did a lot of programs focused on women leaders, engaging women. The Faculty Leadership Program was hers. I was in the very first session when they brought the group down to do it. I was invited to be in that group.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD
And was that women only?
Carmen Escalante, MD
No. It was the leaders, but there were quite a few women invited. And I think she highlighted women, and it was a goal of hers to make sure that women and their talents were appreciated. And Liz Travis [oral history interview] since has picked up on a lot of that by --they developed the Office—I can’t remember.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD
Office of Women Faculty Programs.
Carmen Escalante, MD
Faculty Programs. That was through Margaret, and Liz has led that. I think we have a long way to go still, but I think it certainly has transitioned the institution from what it was before to what it is now, that there are women chairs now of departments, and it’s much more common than what it was even ten years ago. There are many more women chairs, and I think that’s a very good thing. And I think there is more focus.
Another area Margaret really built was mentoring, mentorship, especially women. She gave opportunities by appointing them to various committees or other projects. And, you know, I think we all have a lot to thank her for, her vision and foresight and her sponsorship or her use of her appointment to do that for all of us. I definitely think that that was one of the major transitions for women in this institution from where we were when I first came to what we’ve become now.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD
What do you think, I mean, as you look back and kind of remember her as that sort of a public figure in the institution at the time, what was it about her that made her such a successful leader and able to make those changes?
Carmen Escalante, MD
She was, and still is, she’s a very reasonable, thoughtful person. She ultimately made the decision, but she had a reason for doing things, depending on what her decision was. But, you know, I think she tried to do the right thing, and she was highly respected, I think by—and still is, both by women and men. She cared. She cared about the faculty, she cared about the women and their careers, and she went out of her way to make it known that she was trying to do something for us. And through her vision she set up this office for women, which—you know, another person I think a lot of us are thankful is Liz Travis, who was the first appointed—I think it’s associate vice president of that office, who then took on the charge of actually setting up a lot of programs and setting up, you know, organizing women. We have the leadership, the women leadership, we meet monthly just to get together and talk and figure out where we are, what kind of things could we do better.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD
Is that a formal committee or—
Carmen Escalante, MD
No, it’s something Liz—we meet at—oh, what’s the name of the place down the street? Yappa, that Liz set up for dinner. It’s mostly chairs of departments or divisions. There’s only Genie Kleinerman [oral history interview], a division head, but—and, you know, not all of us can always come. Usually there’s about ten, you know, depending on the month. And kind of strategize and have dinner and just enjoy each other, and I think we all appreciate it and look forward to it. We’re all busy here, but we all care. We care about what happens after us, how can we make the same commitment that Margaret made to us when she was in a position that allowed her to make changes that could affect us, and kind of thinking about how we as chairs of departments or other leadership positions can do the same for the next generation and the younger faculty coming up.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD
Yeah, people talk about the pipeline problem, who’s going to take over and how do you groom that next pool of individuals.
Carmen Escalante, MD
Right. Because, you know, you don’t want lose traction, you don’t want to lose ground. And I think there’s still lots that can be done. At this point, there’s still on the executive level, after Margaret left, no comparable woman leader at that level, but as I said, there are more women department chairs, and so I think we have to try to make our own opportunities as much as we can.
Liz has focused us on making sure we nominate women for various awards and recognitions, both internally and externally. You know, we’re all busy, but if we don’t take the time to acknowledge and nominate women that have achieved for various awards, then it’s part our fault, too, and I think it’s important.
Even before, when I was younger, in college, medical school, I always felt strongly that women needed to stand up for themself and we can do whatever we want. We’re capable. And I have a son and two daughters, but the same with my daughters, I hope that they don’t see anything as a limitation because they’re women as they grow up and do whatever they want.
Recommended Citation
Escalante, Carmen MD and Rosolowski, Tacey A. PhD, "Gender & Work at MD Anderson" (2014). Race, Gender, & Work @ The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center: Triumphs of Houston’s Leading Hospital. 11.
https://openworks.mdanderson.org/mchv_racegenderwork/11
