Hoje dia 8 de março, comemora-se o Dia Internacional da Mulher, gostaria de Parabenizar todas as mulheres e para isso destaco a reportagem da revista Face To Face (IAOMS.org) onde destaca a mulher na cirurgia bucomaxilofacial e para isso faz entrevistas a cinco colegas, Dra. Maria Eduina da Silveira (SP), Dra. Marisa Aparecida C. Gabrelli (SP), Dra. Gabriela Granja Porto (PE), Dra. Marina Guimarães Fraga (MG) e a Dra. Renata Pittella (ES).
BRAZIL: THREE GENERATIONS OF SURGEONS
³
Same professional area and this
approximates us a lot. He was
always very enthusiastic about my
professional growth and success.
His support during my whole
professional career development
was unconditional.
Is it a problem for your partner if
you are an OMS?
Absolutely no problem. On the
contrary, we support each other.
How do you see OMS in Brazil in
20 years?
In the last four decades, several
Brazilian surgeons had the
opportunity to train abroad and
bring in knowledge from several
countries. Many outstanding
foreign surgeons came to Brazil
to give courses and lectures. With
that, OMS in Brazil advanced
conceptually and clinically.
At the same time, in the last 20
years, the training of Brazilian
oral and maxillofacial surgeons
acquired a new direction with
the formal acceptance of the
residence training, which was made
official by gonverment regulatory
organizations. That, added to
the expertise of surgeons who
were trained abroad, allowed
the specialty to effectively
occupy its proper space and to
be consolidated in this country.
Presently, we have several centers
that are highly capable of offering
adequate training to young
surgeons and quality treatment to
patients. On the other hand we still
lack technologies and resources
which are readily available in
developed countries.
Another important point I see,
especialy in the young surgeon, is
that the desire for fast financial gain
and visibility leads to sacrifice of the
quality of treatment and even to a
superindication? (please clarify the
use of the word superindication) of
surgical procedures.
I hope that in the next 20 years
standarts of education and training
will be widely applied in Brazil, with
discontinuing inadequate programs
and training modalities which still
exist today. Also, I hope that, with
good practices and standarts of care,
as well as less taxation and adoptio of
compliance measures, the use of new
technology, techniques and materials,
will make OMS a more suitable cost
and therefore more widely available
in this country.
Tell us about the first years of your
career
In the begining of my professional
career, which was in the early 1990’s,
I was hired as a teacher for the
Araraquara Dental School by the
São Paulo State University- UNESP
in the division of OMS. At the time,
I started to obtain the requirements
for an academic career. During the
first three years, I worked a lot,
teaching undergraduate students
with lectures and clinical practice.
At the same time, my clinical work
in the affiliated hospitals, involving
facial traumatology, dentoskeletal
deformities, tumors, reconstructions
and procedures was developed
under the supervision of highly
capable surgeons from our surgical
team. During that period I had
the opportunity of a one year
fellowship in a cleft patient
hospital. Four years after being
hired, I took the MSc program
in Periodontology and after that
the PhD program in Oral and
Maxillofacial Surgery.
During that period and afterwards it
was possible to participate in many
national and international continuing
education courses in OMS. Among
those, several were eesential to
my education and professional
developement, such as several
courses promoted by AO and IBRA.
What is AO?
I became an AO faculty in 1996 and
this allowed me to get to know many
great surgeons in the specialty. It
was and still is very enlightening to
have the opportunity to learn from
them and to exchange individual
experiences. Later on I had the
opportunity of a fellowship in the
USA.
I am presently a full professor of
OMS, Head of the Department of
Diagnosis and Surgery and Director
of our Residence Program in OMS,
besides other administrative
functions at the university. I supervise
graduate students of our MSc and
PhD programs in Diagnosis and
Surgery. My current surgical activities
are in the areas of craniofacial
trauma, dentoskeletal deformities,
tumors, maxillofacial infections,
bone reconstruction, implants and
temporomandibular joint.
Has being a woman affected your
profession? – See edits to this
question on earlier profiles
Being a woman did not affect my
professional career. I have been able,
through years of dedication, to obtain
my professional space. Surgeons
with whom I interact, residents and
members of our surgical team treat
me with a lot of respect, where my
professional opinion and conduct
are well regarded. As for patients, I
never experienced a situation where
there was a lack of confidence in my
professional skills because I was a
woman.
Women in IAOMS
A Conversation with...
I never set up a goal.
Everything in my life led me here. What qualities would you recommend for a successful career in OMFS?
Hard work, persistency, dedication and love.
Any advice for younger women entering the profession?
Never give up your dreams. If OMS is what you want, define a target and go for it. How do you manage your private life, partner and family? For me this was never an issue, OMS is a wide embracing specialty; it allows you to balance your private and professional life.
Is it problem for your partner if you are an OMS?
Not at all. He has always been very supportive to me.
How do you see OMFS in Brazil in 20 years?
I see a developing country sharing information with the world, mostly due to the continuous improvement in scientific and technological knowledge. Tell us about the first years of your career It was hard in the beginning, because the country was different back then and so was OMS.
Has being a woman affected your profession?
I faced training and financial difficulties but I grew up in a family that gave the same opportunities for men and women, so being a woman has never been an issue.
I always admired the work of health professionals and had a tendency to seek a career in that field. Having graduated from Dental School, my greatest affinity was Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, which became my professional passion.
What qualities would you recommend for a successful career in OMS?
Dedication, commitment, continuous learning; a theoretical foundation and clinical knowledge.
Any advice for younger women entering the profession?
Acquire knowledge and dedicate yourself to your work. Professional space is not obtained without merit and this comes by showing professional competence. Without that, one becomes a disposable and temporary fixture. Treat your patients with respect and honesty, regardless of their social and economic background.
How do you manage your private life, partner and family?
My private life is dedicated to my family. My son and daughter have learned – since an early age -- that their mother has an extensive working schedule; they are used to spending only part of their time with me. However, the quality of the dedication to them, when we were together, was extremely important for them and they hada positive view of my work during childhood. Now, as adults, I perceive that they are proud of my work and see me as a role model. Relationship with my husband was always very easy.
What was your model or your inspiration to become a maxillofacial surgeon?
It dates back to when I studied abroad, in the USA. My high school had a professional orientation program that allowed me to follow a maxillofacial surgeon for a day. This profession has its role to care for people and that fascinated me. I knew right away what I wanted to do for graduation. It was love at first sight! After that, my professors at a Brazilian University were responsible for keeping the flame lit by profession.
What qualities would you recommend for a successful career in OMFS?
The first thing about doing any profession is passion. When you do something you love, everything tends to get much easier. After that, commitment to studying is mandatory because without knowledge, it is impossible to go further. The third quality is to have the capacity to make quick decisions; a surgeon cannot be indecisive.
Any advice for younger women entering the profession?
Don´t give up! Even if this profession seems to be mostly for guys, women have their place in the front row. We have about the same strength as men plus a women´s sensibility. We can be surgeons AND wives AND mothers. We are able to fit all in our lives, we just need to adjust our time!
How do you manage your private life, partner and family?
Time is a matter of organization and choice. It is possible to be a surgeon and have a healthy private life. Of course, you cannot fill up all hours of your day with many jobs. Instead, you can work nicely 40 hours per week without sacrificing your personal life.
Is it a problem for your partner that you are an OMS?
A real partner will want his soul mate to be happy no matter the profession she chooses. Thinking like that, I´m very lucky, I have a real partner. My profession does not bother him because I´m able to share my time so our relationship does not move to a second plan. There is time for each important thing in my life.
How do you see OMFS in Brazil in 20 years?
Brazil has worked very hard to get the specialty strong. We have a very large number of active surgeons who fight for our profession in their own states. Besides that, The Brazilian College of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery works very hard and has done a great job showing the importance of Oral and Maxillofacial Surveons to both the population and the government. Because of this panorama, I see OMFS each year stronger and more recognized overall.
What was your model or your inspiration to become a maxillofacial surgeon? Unfortunately, in Brazil we are still few woman in oral and maxillofacial surgery. I didn’t know any senior female surgeon during my entire undergrad and residency time. Therefore, I didn’t have a specific role model when I decided to become a surgeon myself. What led me to this path was that I saw surgery as a way to be able to lessen the pain and suffering of others. My inspiration was always the patient. I wanted to help and to care for people. What qualities would you recommend for a successful career in OMFS? In order to be a good surgeon, with no doubt, one has to be responsible, dedicated, resilient and studious. To have a successful career, in my opinion, the surgeon has also to show intuition, empathy and to truly care for what he/she does.
Any advice for younger women entering the profession?
I will give an advice that an wise surgeon gave me when I was entering the profession as well, for which I am very grateful for: Man and Woman are both capable, but they are different indeed. Some of these differences, which could be seen as weaknesses, might be in fact strengths. Sensibility and kindness, for instance, are often sought and very appreciated by the patient.
How do you manage your private life, partner and family? During my OMFS training I had no time for my private life at all. Now I think I can organize my time better, defining priorities and making choices. I am not a mother yet, but I plan to have children. I must be honest that this matter worries me sometimes, since I do not know how I will manage this additional task. But I guess that is an issue for all the full-time working mothers, in every profession.
I think that being an OMS does not make this especially harder. Is it a problem for your partner if you are an OMS? My partner is very enthusiastic and dedicated to his work as well, and me being an OMS is not a problem for him. He understands the importance of my commitment to my patients and admires my work. That makes easier for him to deal with my busy schedule or absence sometimes.
How do you see OMFS in Brazil in 20 years? It is hard to answer this question because Brazil is undergoing big changes and challenges at the moment, politically and economically. The Brazillian OMFS College and many surgeons are engaged in strengthening the specialty in our country and abroad, and they have been doing a great job. But I am afraid that without a proper healthcare policy that much effort may not really change the current scenario. The vast majority of the Brazilian population does not have access to an oral and maxillofacial surgery service nowadays. Without satisfactory financial resource for the health system, it is not possible to change this situation and allow more people to benefit from our service. Our specialty has a lot to grow yet and what I hope is that, in 20 years, most of the public and private hospitals have a OMFS service and that we can really improve the quality of life of our population at large.
What was your model or your inspiration to become a maxillofacial surgeon?
I chose this area of healthcare with the intention to work to improve the quality of life of the population at large. I wanted to find a way to make a difference, even if only on a small or local scale. I was inspired and attracted to surgery being part of the overall healthcare ecosystem. I have never had any specific role model but always liked the idea of teamwork and the interactions with my team members is one of the reasons I chose this profession. Working shoulder to shoulder with others, as a team, is not always part of a daily routine in other healthcare professions, which may leave people feeling isolated.
What qualities would you recommend for a successful career in OMFS? Without a question -- dedication, personal effort, study and staying on top of the latest developments are qualities essential to being an excellent surgeon. But a successful career as a surgeon also depends on having empathy, mindfulness and caring about your patients. These are qualities I try to invoke in myself and practice on a daily basis.
Any advice for younger women entering the profession?
This one applies to everybody, regardless of gender – stay connected to your human qualities, because above all we are all humans working with other humans. For younger women in my profession, I would say, try to avoid assigning every error or difficulty that happena to the fact that you are female. I sometimes see some women in some situations put themselves in the position of a victim because of their gender or allow themselves to be put in those situations. This is a mistake, because all of us, regardless of gender, find ourselves in situations which can be equally difficult whether you are male or female. How do you manage your private life, partner and family?
Since the beginning of my career, I have established two important things. First are priorities, which must be defined and respected. Secondly – dedicating adequate amount of time separately for realizing each priority. Using these two concepts, we will be able to better organize our daily tasks using parameters of rationality, without missing out on anything important.
Is it a problem for your partner if you are an OMS?
I currently don’t have a partner. This has been a personal choice that has nothing to do with the fact that I am an OMS.
How do you see OMFS in Brazil in 20 years?
For the profession as a whole, it is difficult to make any predictions because we live in a country that is undergoing change all the time. On the other hand, I certainly see the OMFS profession being part of the healthcare policy of our country in the future, in an effort to build a better nation. I do have a hope, however, that with every passing ay, more and more professionals of my área join the ranks who base their professionalism on such qualities as ethics and science. As far as women in my profession are concerned, I have seen their numbers increasing from year to year and believe that this trend will continue in the future. Tell us about the first years of your career I have always wanted to work in surgery rooms as much as teaching and researching. I clearly remember my first years as a time of total focus, dedication, often neglecting my family and hobbies because of the shortage of time, the time when I was looking to create space for these two passions of mine – performing surgery and teaching. Yet along with memories of sacrifice and hard work, I also remember the care and support of my colleagues and professors who have helped to make my journey a little easier. Over time, as I have been able to conquer these two areas, I also have been able to bring balance to my personal and professional lives.
Has being a woman affected your profession?
Broadly speaking, I don’t believe that being a woman has affected my profession. The differences can sometimes be seen in small details; perhaps in a more emotional way with some situations, which can be a good thing and sometimes not very much so. I believe there are men and women of all types but what we need the most these days are professionals whofocus on technical and scientific growth within our professional area and focus on improving the quality of life of the general population. ■
