Dr. 安妮特·芬利·梅斯79年: A Longtime Advocate for Women’s Health and Equity in Healthcare
This article appeared in the 2024 edition of 完整的循环Castilleja的年度杂志.
In her thirty years of practice as an obstetrician and gynecologist, 安妮特·芬利·梅斯79年 has delivered thousands of babies. She’s treated thousands of women for issues ranging from infertility to endometriosis and taught hundreds of doctors.
As the first in her family to graduate from college, Dr. 梅耶斯 sees Castilleja as an essential stepping stone along her path. “Castilleja honestly opened up a whole new world for me. My mother worked right down the street in a medical lab. We were so close to the area, and we knew nothing about Castilleja,” says Dr. 梅耶斯, who grew up in East Palo Alto as the youngest of six kids.
Then, in 6th grade, a teacher in her public school took her and three other classmates aside. “You are really smart,” the teacher said. “I’m going to talk to your parents and see if they’ll allow me to have you get tested to see if you can get into this private school.” What followed was two months of rigorous studying for the admissions exam. Dr. 梅耶斯 and another girl ended up enrolling in Castilleja.
The adjustment to a new school wasn’t easy for Dr. 梅耶斯. She missed her siblings and old classmates. “留下来吧，”她母亲催促道. “你以后会感激的.她照做了.
Dr. 梅耶斯 went on to earn her BS from Stanford University, completed medical school at the University of California San Diego, and did her postgraduate OB-GYN residency at the University of Texas, 休斯顿. Committed to advancing women’s health and combating racial inequities in healthcare, Dr. 梅耶斯 has her own medical practice in Las Vegas and writes a column for 《正规网赌软件大全》杂志. She gives talks to local women's groups, mentors young doctors, and has served on the Susan B. 科曼资助委员会.
Two pivotal moments stand out in her career, she says. Once, during a hard day, a former patient walked into her office and enveloped her in a hug. “你救了我孩子的命!女人叫道. “You are the best doctor in the world!几个月前，奥巴马医生说. 梅耶斯 had successfully performed a procedure to help the woman’s baby breathe. 她的话，博士. 梅耶斯 says, reminded her why she does this challenging work.
还有一次，他的一位同事. 梅耶斯 became suspicious that a patient was seeking drugs, even though the woman’s symptoms legitimately called for pain medicine and she had no history of ever misusing medication.
“When I walked in the room,” remembers Dr. 梅耶斯, “I immediately knew what it was. There's a Black woman sitting on the exam table, with her mother and her two sisters there.“他们都心烦意乱.
“热门网赌软件大全很高兴是你，感谢上帝!他们说.
Dr. 梅耶斯 read her chart and wrote the needed prescription. She also made it a teachable moment about racial bias for her colleague. “[The midwife] walked into a room of Black women, and she immediately felt threatened by it,博士解释道。. 梅耶斯. “I talked to her about it and I said, ‘I really feel like this was on you and not on them.’”
“I’ve always felt it’s important to promote minorities to be in my field,” says Dr. 梅耶斯. “But it never struck me until a few years ago how important it really is to have Black physicians treating Black patients. It’s about feeling comfortable and having someone to relate to. Maybe they open up more, maybe there’s more openness to what I’m suggesting that they do.”
她的女儿, 一名兽医, was also aware of the lack of teacher diversity in her veterinary school, 只有一名黑人教员. Dr. 梅耶斯 encouraged her to become a professor and to pave the way for those behind her. “Then I said, ‘Wow, maybe I need to listen to my own words, and I need to be in academia.’”
So when a local medical school invited Dr. 梅耶斯 to join their faculty and teach medical residents, she accepted. “I’ve been in this city for twenty-eight years at the time, and I’ve never once seen a Black resident in the program [even though] there is a diverse population,她说。.
她教年轻人, 包括她的两个孩子, to advocate for themselves and to seize every available opportunity, 包括老师的办公时间, wishing she'd done more of that as a student. "The schools you go to are there for you, to help you get to your next level. 打电话给别人是可以的。. 梅耶斯. "It doesn’t matter if it’s a faculty member or the dean. If they blow you off, just go to the next person. 但你必须迈出这一步. You need to go through that open door. 你不必害怕.”