The Ohio ACC hosted its inaugural Women in Cardiology Recruitment event on April 9, 2022, at the Health Education Campus in Cleveland. The event was targeted at female internal medicine residents and female medical students across Northeast Ohio. The event was a great success and incredibly inspiring, featuring a series of mini-talks by cardiology fellows and attendings discussing work-life integration, the path to cardiology, finding a mentor, and an overview of the various subspecialties of cardiology. Thereafter, the attendees were able to visit a series of booths set up by sponsoring vendors to obtain hands-on experience with common technologies and devices used in cardiology (ultrasound, mechanical support devices, transcatheter aortic valves, ASD/PFO closure devices, etc.). During lunch, the attendees networked in small groups with cardiology fellows and attendings from general cardiology, heart failure, electrophysiology, interventional cardiology, imaging, and pediatric cardiology.

The residents and students provided lots of positive feedback. One medical student who attended the event stated, “It really helped me gain clarity and answered so many questions I’ve been having about cardiology.” Given the tremendous gender disparity that exists in cardiology, the Ohio-ACC hopes to continue hosting this type of recruitment session to facilitate potential mentorship and research opportunities, highlight the benefits of a career in cardiology, and improve female representation in cardiology.

-Zarina Sharalaya, MD