Dr. Casey Seideman
Appearances
BackTable Urology
Ep. 211 Mentorship and Growth Through the Society of Women in Urology with Dr. Simone Thavaseelan and Dr. Akanksha Mehta
So for me, I was part of the Women in Publishing Task Force, and that gave me this once in a lifetime opportunity to be an editor for the Gold Journal. which has been really formative for my career and just a really wonderful learning experience that absolutely came through my work with SWU and the opportunities that SWU creates for its members.
BackTable Urology
Ep. 211 Mentorship and Growth Through the Society of Women in Urology with Dr. Simone Thavaseelan and Dr. Akanksha Mehta
And so there's a lot of opportunities within SWU for leadership, and those leadership opportunities can translate to national positions, national recognition, and honestly, Once you start, you can't stop. It's like drinking from a fire hose, as you both know.
BackTable Urology
Ep. 211 Mentorship and Growth Through the Society of Women in Urology with Dr. Simone Thavaseelan and Dr. Akanksha Mehta
So I'm just really excited that we get to share that with our listeners who may not be as familiar with the task forces and some of the other missions of SWOO.
BackTable Urology
Ep. 211 Mentorship and Growth Through the Society of Women in Urology with Dr. Simone Thavaseelan and Dr. Akanksha Mehta
I'm your host today, Dr. Casey Seidman. Welcome to our new collaborative series between the Society of Women in Urology and Backtable Urology. I'm excited to be joined today by two very special guests, Dr. Akanksha Mehta, who is the past president of SWU and an associate professor of urology and the program director of the residency program at Emory University.
BackTable Urology
Ep. 211 Mentorship and Growth Through the Society of Women in Urology with Dr. Simone Thavaseelan and Dr. Akanksha Mehta
This segues perfectly into the next question that I have for you both. I have noticed so many more medical students and residents being interested and actively involved in SWOO. from both webinars and they're having their own journal clubs, they're attending the mentoring conference.
BackTable Urology
Ep. 211 Mentorship and Growth Through the Society of Women in Urology with Dr. Simone Thavaseelan and Dr. Akanksha Mehta
Why do you think or how do you think SWOO is important for residents and trainees and how is that evolving in the SWOO mission?
BackTable Urology
Ep. 211 Mentorship and Growth Through the Society of Women in Urology with Dr. Simone Thavaseelan and Dr. Akanksha Mehta
and Dr. Simone Thavasilin, professor of urology at Brown, also the program director of their urology residency and the current SWU president. Welcome. Thanks for having us. Happy to be here. I'm so excited to have you both join and to introduce this new collaborative series between SWU and Backtable Urology.
BackTable Urology
Ep. 211 Mentorship and Growth Through the Society of Women in Urology with Dr. Simone Thavaseelan and Dr. Akanksha Mehta
When I was at the meeting last year, a medical student came up to me and introduced herself and gave me her card and told me that she would love to connect. And she did. She sent me an email. She was really wonderful. It fostered a really great sort of mentorship, sponsorship, relationship.
BackTable Urology
Ep. 211 Mentorship and Growth Through the Society of Women in Urology with Dr. Simone Thavaseelan and Dr. Akanksha Mehta
And it really dawned on me that this was a very unique opportunity because here's a person who lives on the other side of the country who I would have never interfaced with otherwise. who now I feel like I have a really strong relationship with just from this happenstance encounter at a SWU mentorship meeting. I think that that's something particularly unique to SWU.
BackTable Urology
Ep. 211 Mentorship and Growth Through the Society of Women in Urology with Dr. Simone Thavaseelan and Dr. Akanksha Mehta
I don't think you have that same opportunity at larger national meetings or society meetings. They're not as focused on the mentorship and sponsorship aspect. So I really think that there's a special ingredient there that allows for women to
BackTable Urology
Ep. 211 Mentorship and Growth Through the Society of Women in Urology with Dr. Simone Thavaseelan and Dr. Akanksha Mehta
And sort of trainees, medical students, faculty, even retired faculty to connect across borders and really foster these networks that otherwise might not have ever happened. Very empowering. I love it.
BackTable Urology
Ep. 211 Mentorship and Growth Through the Society of Women in Urology with Dr. Simone Thavaseelan and Dr. Akanksha Mehta
The other side of that coin, though, and this is something that Dr. Savasilan mentioned, is that there is also a lot of attention that's coming up about mid-career urologists, especially women and gender diverse individuals. When you hit your mid-career, there is this risk that you either plateau or peter out because you may not have the same opportunities that maybe you had in that
BackTable Urology
Ep. 211 Mentorship and Growth Through the Society of Women in Urology with Dr. Simone Thavaseelan and Dr. Akanksha Mehta
early career ramp up. What can SWU do or what value does SWU have for people in their mid-career? How can we support mid-career urologists?
BackTable Urology
Ep. 211 Mentorship and Growth Through the Society of Women in Urology with Dr. Simone Thavaseelan and Dr. Akanksha Mehta
I thought it would be fun just for the listeners to learn a little bit about SWU for our first episode. And so that's why I've strategically invited the past president and president of the organization. For those who don't know the history of SWU, SWU had really humble beginnings back in 1980 when Dr. Jean Forcroy and four other women in urology had an informal get together at the AUA.
BackTable Urology
Ep. 211 Mentorship and Growth Through the Society of Women in Urology with Dr. Simone Thavaseelan and Dr. Akanksha Mehta
I remember a couple of years ago at a SWU conference, Dr. Kirsten Green gave a talk on how to interview for chair positions. And that was a really eye-opening talk for me to listen to because she basically told us her story. She's the chair at UVA. But she also told us about the process.
BackTable Urology
Ep. 211 Mentorship and Growth Through the Society of Women in Urology with Dr. Simone Thavaseelan and Dr. Akanksha Mehta
And just by talking about it, it really unlocked something in my brain that was like, how many women in this audience want to be chair people? And how can I dedicate myself to promoting women to achieving that goal? And so oftentimes, once you hit certain years in practice, you'll start to get these emails from across the country asking you to recommend people for positions.
BackTable Urology
Ep. 211 Mentorship and Growth Through the Society of Women in Urology with Dr. Simone Thavaseelan and Dr. Akanksha Mehta
These informal gatherings continued on a yearly basis at the meeting with the intent of supporting, promoting, and sponsoring women. In 1992, the group became formalized with an executive committee in bylaws, and in 2012, SWU hosted its first clinical mentoring conference. Now, in the year 2024, it has over 1,800 members.
BackTable Urology
Ep. 211 Mentorship and Growth Through the Society of Women in Urology with Dr. Simone Thavaseelan and Dr. Akanksha Mehta
And it really sparked my interest thinking, how many people do we not know who are interested in these positions? And how can we help these people unlock their potential to actually achieve this goal? And I think SWOO did something really special in that moment by opening up that conversation. Obviously, not everybody wants to be a chairperson.
BackTable Urology
Ep. 211 Mentorship and Growth Through the Society of Women in Urology with Dr. Simone Thavaseelan and Dr. Akanksha Mehta
And a lot of chair people these days would caution you against it. But I think it's actually a great it's a great conversation to have with this group to sort of demystify it, make it look sort of attainable, achievable, connect you with people who have done it before you and just allow these goals to sort of take place. Very powerful.
BackTable Urology
Ep. 211 Mentorship and Growth Through the Society of Women in Urology with Dr. Simone Thavaseelan and Dr. Akanksha Mehta
How many times when you invite a woman to be a speaker, do they ask you if you're sure you want them or they don't necessarily think that they're the right person? Is that something that you encounter frequently when you invite people to speak?
BackTable Urology
Ep. 211 Mentorship and Growth Through the Society of Women in Urology with Dr. Simone Thavaseelan and Dr. Akanksha Mehta
You do it very well. And yet I still don't like it. I want to ask you both, what is your prediction for the future of SWU? Where do you see SWU going over the next 10, 20 years?
BackTable Urology
Ep. 211 Mentorship and Growth Through the Society of Women in Urology with Dr. Simone Thavaseelan and Dr. Akanksha Mehta
That's quite a growth since starting with five, including faculty, trainees, and students from actually around the world. I thought it would be really great if you both would tell me a little bit about how you first got involved with SWOO and how you then ascended to become president.
BackTable Urology
Ep. 211 Mentorship and Growth Through the Society of Women in Urology with Dr. Simone Thavaseelan and Dr. Akanksha Mehta
I agree. I think that SWOO is already an infiltrative part, to be honest, and I just see it growing. It's such a well-organized machine with the task forces, with the integration of medical students, with both an online way of staying in touch through webinars and through mentorship, but also an in-person mentoring conference.
BackTable Urology
Ep. 211 Mentorship and Growth Through the Society of Women in Urology with Dr. Simone Thavaseelan and Dr. Akanksha Mehta
I think that SWOO has done an extraordinary job of finding a way to touch people that are coming from different places in their career. I think that it will continue to do that. And I think that it will continue to meet the needs of its community. I also think that SWOO might be thought of as kind of an exclusionary group. You know, the Society of Women in Urology.
BackTable Urology
Ep. 211 Mentorship and Growth Through the Society of Women in Urology with Dr. Simone Thavaseelan and Dr. Akanksha Mehta
might evoke the thought that maybe men aren't a part of this group or gender diverse individuals may not feel welcome. Dr. Mehta, you mentioned earlier that SWOO has opened up the doors, not just for women, but with some of your male colleagues. I'm going to ask you very pointedly, how can our male colleagues support and participate in the SWOO mission?
BackTable Urology
Ep. 211 Mentorship and Growth Through the Society of Women in Urology with Dr. Simone Thavaseelan and Dr. Akanksha Mehta
And how can SWOO be more inclusive of gender diverse individuals as well?
BackTable Urology
Ep. 211 Mentorship and Growth Through the Society of Women in Urology with Dr. Simone Thavaseelan and Dr. Akanksha Mehta
I agree. I think there needs to be collaborative efforts to support women and gender diverse individuals in urology. I think that we won't be successful if we all do it alone.
BackTable Urology
Ep. 211 Mentorship and Growth Through the Society of Women in Urology with Dr. Simone Thavaseelan and Dr. Akanksha Mehta
And I think being inclusive and listening to each other, inviting each other to the AUA meeting has been a really powerful way of sort of opening up some of these conversations and showing the world that we are an open organization. We're happy to have you join as a member. We're happy to have your support.
BackTable Urology
Ep. 211 Mentorship and Growth Through the Society of Women in Urology with Dr. Simone Thavaseelan and Dr. Akanksha Mehta
And we really want you to attend and network with us and get to know us and learn how we can help each other. I want to be mindful of time. I don't want to keep you for much longer. I'm going to ask you to end with one quick thought. What is your favorite SWOO memory?
BackTable Urology
Ep. 211 Mentorship and Growth Through the Society of Women in Urology with Dr. Simone Thavaseelan and Dr. Akanksha Mehta
Well, my favorite memory revolves around food. So that's all you need to know about me. But I just remember one of the first times we all went out to dinner as a group after the meeting and just kind of were able to connect about our lives and our lived experiences and realize that there was a lot of shared experience amongst us. It was just a really wonderful opportunity.
BackTable Urology
Ep. 211 Mentorship and Growth Through the Society of Women in Urology with Dr. Simone Thavaseelan and Dr. Akanksha Mehta
And so I thank you both so much for all of the work that you've done for SWOO. For the listeners, I think that you may not know, but these folks are doing a lot of work, many extra hours spent organizing, communicating, setting things up, putting out fires. So thank you for your dedication and your hard work. And thank you for being the inaugural guests on our first SWOO Backtable podcast.
BackTable Urology
Ep. 211 Mentorship and Growth Through the Society of Women in Urology with Dr. Simone Thavaseelan and Dr. Akanksha Mehta
Awesome. Thanks so much for having us, Casey. Thank you.
BackTable Urology
Ep. 211 Mentorship and Growth Through the Society of Women in Urology with Dr. Simone Thavaseelan and Dr. Akanksha Mehta
That's a wrap. Thank you.
BackTable Urology
Ep. 211 Mentorship and Growth Through the Society of Women in Urology with Dr. Simone Thavaseelan and Dr. Akanksha Mehta
You guys said it so perfectly. I will say I have to admit my first clinical mentoring conference was very powerful. I was fangirling over you both. I was so excited to meet you in person and to connect with you. I feel like the mentoring conference is a really special conference that's held every year.
BackTable Urology
Ep. 211 Mentorship and Growth Through the Society of Women in Urology with Dr. Simone Thavaseelan and Dr. Akanksha Mehta
It's such an amazing opportunity to really let your guard down or let your armor down and connect with people across the country. They may be in different areas of urology or different walks of their training, but it's really powerful.
BackTable Urology
Ep. 211 Mentorship and Growth Through the Society of Women in Urology with Dr. Simone Thavaseelan and Dr. Akanksha Mehta
Could you tell me a little bit about what makes the mentoring conference so special, especially for folks who might not have ever attended but have been kind of curious about it?
BackTable Urology
Ep. 211 Mentorship and Growth Through the Society of Women in Urology with Dr. Simone Thavaseelan and Dr. Akanksha Mehta
Hello, everyone, and welcome to Backtable Urology, your source for all things urology. You can find all episodes on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, and on backtable.com.
BackTable Urology
Ep. 211 Mentorship and Growth Through the Society of Women in Urology with Dr. Simone Thavaseelan and Dr. Akanksha Mehta
I love that so much. I think there's really two big things that I take away from the clinical mentoring conference. Number one is this ability to discuss the quote unquote hidden curriculum, right? How do you succeed as a woman or a gender diverse individual in urology when you make up 10% of practicing urologists?
BackTable Urology
Ep. 211 Mentorship and Growth Through the Society of Women in Urology with Dr. Simone Thavaseelan and Dr. Akanksha Mehta
And there's actually a lot of nuance to that and living that experience and hearing stories from women who have done it before is really powerful. But also meeting people in real life and having the opportunity to eat dinner across from somebody who you might never have interfaced with on a regular basis is really powerful as well.
BackTable Urology
Ep. 211 Mentorship and Growth Through the Society of Women in Urology with Dr. Simone Thavaseelan and Dr. Akanksha Mehta
I think it's been really a great starter or catalyst for people's careers to be able to meet at this conference and then carry those relationships out into other aspects. What connections have you made through SWOO that have been helpful for your career? Or what are some of the things that SWOO has done very purposely to help promote the careers of women in urology?
BackTable Urology
Ep. 211 Mentorship and Growth Through the Society of Women in Urology with Dr. Simone Thavaseelan and Dr. Akanksha Mehta
I'm so glad that you brought up the task forces and the speaker database. And so the speaker database is very near and dear to my heart because how many times have you seen a panel of folks without any women representing? And you might ask, you know, why that is. And a lot of times the response you get is, well, we don't know any women or there are no qualified women.
BackTable Urology
Ep. 211 Mentorship and Growth Through the Society of Women in Urology with Dr. Simone Thavaseelan and Dr. Akanksha Mehta
And that might be true based on who you know and what your sort of network is. But if you have access to this database, it's very powerful because we are a minority in the world of urology.
BackTable Urology
Ep. 211 Mentorship and Growth Through the Society of Women in Urology with Dr. Simone Thavaseelan and Dr. Akanksha Mehta
And so here's a list that we can present to you of a variety of women who are experts on these topics that you can choose from for your next meeting so that you don't have to be exclusive with your sort of panels. I think that that's a really very well orchestrated way to help promote women in urology. And the task forces all accomplish something very similarly.