November 5, 2004: Headlines: Medicine: Obstetrics: Gynecology: OC Metro: Vivian M. Dickerson MD, professor and president of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, says “As a response to the horrible stuff that went on in the Vietnam war, I joined the Peace Corps and was sent to Africa. I started working with women, many of whom were pregnant, and discovered this was what I wanted to do.”
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November 5, 2004: Headlines: Medicine: Obstetrics: Gynecology: OC Metro: Vivian M. Dickerson MD, professor and president of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, says “As a response to the horrible stuff that went on in the Vietnam war, I joined the Peace Corps and was sent to Africa. I started working with women, many of whom were pregnant, and discovered this was what I wanted to do.”
Vivian M. Dickerson MD, professor and president of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, says “As a response to the horrible stuff that went on in the Vietnam war, I joined the Peace Corps and was sent to Africa. I started working with women, many of whom were pregnant, and discovered this was what I wanted to do.”
Vivian M. Dickerson MD, professor and president of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, says “As a response to the horrible stuff that went on in the Vietnam war, I joined the Peace Corps and was sent to Africa. I started working with women, many of whom were pregnant, and discovered this was what I wanted to do.”
Vivian M. Dickerson MD.
Residence: Orange
What she does: Medical doctor, professor and president of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
Family: Single; 24-year-old son working on Ph.D. in neuroscience
Hobbies: Hiking, skiing and scuba diving
Favorite Entertainer: Judy Garland
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A long-time champion of women’s health issues, Dr. Vivian Dickerson is in the right place at the right time to impact the state of women’s health in this country. In May of this year she was sworn in, in front of thousands of her peers, as the 55th president of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), based in Washington, D.C.
Dickerson, a resident of Orange, is an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at UC Irvine and director of the division of general obstetrics and gynecology at the UCI Medical Center. With all her accomplishments, Dickerson still considers herself a late bloomer.
“Most kids in medical school knew they wanted to go into medicine since they were young,” Dickerson says. Not young Vivian. “As a response to the horrible stuff that went on in the Vietnam war, I joined the Peace Corps and was sent to Africa. I started working with women, many of whom were pregnant, and discovered this was what I wanted to do.”
A political science and music major in college, Dickerson returned to school to prepare for the new direction her life had taken. Interestingly, it was a comment during her medical school interview that may have predicted her future. “At age 29,” Dickerson recalls, “I was asked, ‘Why should we accept you over some young buck when you’ll be positively menopausal by the time you graduate?’” Now, a specialist in menopause, she is director of UCI’s Post Reproductive Women’s Integrative Health Center and a nationally known expert on the subject.
In her role as president of ACOG, Dickerson has presented her 10-point Women’s Bill of Rights. Among them: Freedom from discrimination based on gender, age, race, or ethnicity. “I’ve always felt it was important for women to be represented. At that time [during her med school interview], there were almost no women in obstetrics and gynecology.” Now, she says, women are the majority of those in residency, but gender disparity is clear in the top ranks. Dickerson is just the third female president of ACOG and the American Medical Association has had only one female at the helm.
A true torchbearer for women’s health issues, Dickerson says, “I’ve had a lifelong love of advocating for people not adequately represented.” As she leads the charge in her new role, more women surely will benefit.
—By Kimberly Porrazzo
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Story Source: OC Metro
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; Medicine; Obstetrics; Gynecology
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