The Muriel Steele Society Award is given annually by the senior residents to a UCSF woman faculty member who embodies the spirit of Muriel Steele - a woman working to identify and address the unmet needs among surgical patients and whose research and/or clinical work is shifting the paradigms within the field of surgery in order to positively impact the experiences and outcomes of our current and future patients.
The Society also releases an annual honor roll of which six nominations went to women from the UCSF Urology Department for 2020. “It’s such an honor to be recognized among so many talented and powerful women,” says PGY6 Christi Butler, MD.
Associate Professor of Urology, Lindsay Hampson, MD, MAS echoes the feeling and adds, “The fact that so many people from our department were honored really showcases the female leaders we have in our department and one of the reasons I feel privileged to call UCSF home.”
Or, as recipient Sima Porten, MD, Associate Professor of Urology puts it, she is absolutely “proud to be standing alongside so many amazing women surgeons!
The full UCSF Urology list includes:
- Christi Butler, MD
- Carissa Chu, MD
- Domenique Escobar, MD
- Lindsay Hampson, MD, MAS
- Nnenaya Mmonu, MD
- Sima Porten, MD, MPH
The Muriel Steele Society is an inclusive community dedicated to inspiring, supporting, and promoting women surgeons so they can thrive at all stages of their careers.
This description was not lost on nominee Domenique Escobar, MD PGY2 who shared what it is like working in the UCSF community. “I am inspired and motivated every day,” says Dr. Escobar. Her hopes are that “we can serve as representation for other women.”
The society is named in honor of Muriel Steele, MD, the first woman accepted to Stanford's surgical training program in 1957, the first woman surgeon at what is now Zuckerberg San Francisco General, and the first woman admitted to the Pacific Coast Surgical Association in 1977. Her pioneering spirit makes the award particularly important “given everything Dr. Muriel Steele represents for women surgeons” says nominee Nnenaya Mmonu, MD, Trauma and Reconstructive Surgery Fellow who was included in the list.
This is the second year the honor roll has existed. Nominee Carissa Chu, PGY5 describes the experience as nothing short of “empowering…The future is bright!”
Raj S. Pruthi, MD, MHA, FACS, professor in the department of urology agrees. “Congratulating all of these nominees fills me with pride in imaging the significant contributions these women will make, in our field, and beyond.”