The April 3, 2017 Health, Medicine, and the Body issue of the New Yorker, features an illustration by artist Malika Favre of four female members of a surgical team looking down on a patient on the operating table.
The artist’s intention behind the cover was “to capture that feeling of people watching you lose consciousness,” but it has taken on a new, empowered meaning for women surgeons around the world. The #ILookLikeASurgeon social media trend started with Dr. Susan Pitt, an endocrine surgeon at the University of Wisconsin, when she called on her fellow female surgeons challenging them to replicate the image “to bring visibility to the women and other minority groups working in a traditionally white, male-dominated field.”
While the percentage of U.S. physicians who are women has grown from 12 percent in 1980 to 30 percent in 2009, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, women continue to be underrepresented in the field of surgery. American Medical Association statistics show women currently constitute only 19 percent of all surgeons.
Well, Dr. Pitt asked and hundreds of surgeons have answered. Here are just a few of the many incredibly awesome photos that have been shared.
The tweet that started it all
@NewYorker @TheAAES @WomenSurgeons @womeninsurgery @LoggheMD @KickAsana #ILookLikeASurgeon #AAES2017 pic.twitter.com/dhdGd2HKqs
— Susan Pitt (@susieQP8) April 4, 2017
This is so wonderfully awesome! @WashUSurgery #ILookLikeASurgeon pic.twitter.com/Fu6Y3YoI9F
— Olivier Branford (@OlivierBranford) April 12, 2017
The world's oldest working #female #surgeon – 89-year-old Alla Illyinichna Levushkina #ILookLikeASurgeon https://t.co/0ENpEwIdlS #ICYMI pic.twitter.com/6hjWUikVye
— GC Aesthetics (@G_C_Aesthetics) April 10, 2017
@susieQP8 The next generation of @UMichSurgery wanted to join the #NYerORCoverChallenge. #ILookLikeASurgeon @spshubeck pic.twitter.com/kWm5rBWpzw
— Arielle Kanters (@arikanters) April 11, 2017
Representing CardiothoracicSurgery ??@UMichSurgery #NYerORCoverChallenge #ILookLikeASurgeon pic.twitter.com/Cv4HjZSPlO
— Sarah Ward, MD (@sarah_wardCT) April 12, 2017
.@uwhealth surgeon @susieQP8’s #NYerORCoverChallenge is being accepted by female surgeons all over the world. https://t.co/4937zKvpuO pic.twitter.com/bC8qSlOByQ
— UW-Madison (@UWMadison) April 12, 2017
NYPQGeneral Surgery residents joining the challenge. #NYerORCoverChallenge @NewYorker @WomenSurgeons @womeninsurgery @susieQP8 @malikafavre pic.twitter.com/QPoGOxplGt
— Praise Matemavi (@drmatemavi) April 10, 2017
#NYerORCoverChallenge #ILookLikeASurgeon Where's your @NewYorker cover??? Step up! @WomenSurgeons @womeninsurgery pic.twitter.com/DzazM103XG
— Susan Pitt (@susieQP8) April 6, 2017
He for She!
Lots of great #heforshe support at our @UMichSurgery #NYerORCoverChallenge photoshoot organized by @UMEndoSurg! #ILookLikeASurgeon pic.twitter.com/EQtnGeNRDQ
— Justin B. Dimick (@jdimick1) April 13, 2017
The things your mentor does 4 you @drewshirleymd @OsuSurgery #NYerORCoverChallengeBehindScenes #NYerORCoverChallenge #IRL #SurgeryMentoring pic.twitter.com/zgcOjzY7tT
— M.C.Nguyen MD, MPH (@michellechii215) April 10, 2017