Our current series on Making and Maintaining a Neurosurgeon discusses how one transitions from student to resident to practicing neurosurgeon. In particular, we highlight what our field is doing to improve diversity and the importance of mentorship to those considering neurosurgery. How impactful can mentorship be? Incredibly.
This cross-post highlights the recent article in The Varsity, the University of Toronto’s Student Newspaper by Parsa Babaei Zadeh, Veronica Papaioannou, Zahn Bariring and Lauren Shaw titled, “Neurosurgery’s glass ceiling: Addressing the gender imbalance in the field.” The authors discuss how mentorship is crucial for guiding prospective applicants to competitive specialties and fostering an inclusive space where applicants do not feel alienated. 
The authors interview neurosurgeon Gelareh M. Zadeh, MD, PhD, FAANS, FRCS, an advocate for change, actively engaged in mentoring young women. “A lack of mentors, role models, and the sense of having allyship and having people that are similar to you in the field… is one of the biggest factors [preventing women from pursuing neurosurgery], so increasing [the] number of people from diverse backgrounds whether it’s females or others is really important,” Dr. Zadeh states.
Click here to read the full article published by The Varsity.
Editor’s Note: We hope you will share what you learn from our posts in the Making and Maintaining a Neurosurgeon series. We invite you to join the conversation on Twitter by following @Neurosurgery and using the hashtag #Neurosurgery.