Education at OHSU

Education at OHSU

Women's Leadership Development Program

The Women’s Leadership Development Program (WLDP) was founded in 2015 by Dr. Megan Furnari with a group of inspired medical students committed to improving the healthcare journey for trainees. In 2021, the WLDP moved programming to the Provost’s Office at OHSU and expanded to include more healthcare learners including the P.A., D.N.P, and D.M.D. programs. WLDP cultivates an inter-professional leadership development space. All students are welcome to apply.

For more information, contact us.

Mission

To cultivate a community of healthcare leaders to:

  • Advance collaborative relationships
  • Build and apply professional skills and opportunities
  • Foster a culture of curiosity, equity, and advocacy

Vision

To create opportunities for intersectional women to lead and promote gender equity in healthcare.

Threads

  • Authenticity
  • Intentionality
  • Growth
  • Camaraderie
  • Iterative
  • Adaptive
  • Elevation
  • Celebration

About WLDP Program

Since the creation of WLDP in 2015, greater than 200 students have participated including medical, P.A., D.N.P. and D.M.D. students at OHSU. Students are selected from a competitive applicant pool and complete a year-long leadership development program. There are 10 sessions held monthly in the form of dynamic workshops led by OHSU faculty and expert speakers on topics that emphasize leadership, community, mentorship and wellness.

Leadership

The WLDP leadership team consists of faculty and senior students.

  • WLDP Founder and Director: Megan Furnari, M.D.
  • Student leadership teams are WLDP students who completed the first year of the program and are selected to support the next cohort of leaders

Curriculum

WLDP is a year-long program that consists of monthly interactive lectures taught by expert leaders from the OHSU faculty paired with WLPD student leaders. The curriculum focuses on dynamic conversations empowering trainees to become current and future leaders in healthcare. Leadership development and mentorship are two core areas of the program.

Leadership skill development

  • Sessions feature established leaders in the OHSU community including deans, chairs, and executive leaders reflecting on their careers and leadership skills.
  • Encouragement of participants to run for leadership positions (successes have been numerous including multiple presidents of the student government, student group leaders, multiple scholarship/award recipients).

Mentorship

  • Pairing of second-year year participants with first-year participants to encourage growth and peer mentoring.
  • Mentorship from expert faculty in the program.
  • A session specifically on mentorship, sponsorship and networking.

Accomplishments

  • Multiple presentations and workshops at annual conferences hosted by the American Medical Association, Oregon Medical Association, and the Western Group on Education Affairs for Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC).
  • Received numerous grants from Portland-based non-profits and from internal OHSU scholarships

Participant reflections

I've been a nurse practitioner for many years and I serve in a couple of leadership roles at OHSU.

I am enrolled in OHSU’s Post-Master's Doctor of Nursing Practice degree, so when this opportunity came up to be a part of the Women's Leadership Development Program I couldn't wait to get started!

I'm thrilled to see how WLDP can expand to other disciplines and I am honored to be involved.

—Kristen Ash, ANP-BC, D.N.P., WLDP D.N.P. Faculty Leader, WLDP participant

Joining Women's Leadership Development Program (WLDP) meant I had an immediate community of powerful, thoughtful female-identifying leaders eager to connect and support one another.

Early on as a student leader in the OHSU School of Medicine, I was connected through WLDP to the third-year President of Student Council, Monique Hedmann, M.D.

Not only did we get to serve our classes at a time when all the Student Council Presidents were women, her support and wisdom as a powerful female-identifying leader helped me to develop a more authentic professional identity and navigate many complex leadership challenges.

Much of my professional development can be attributed to the professional relationships I made through WLDP.

—Meghan Vandewettering, WLDP Leader and Medical Student, Class of 2022, OHSU School of Medicine

I am really excited to be involved with WLDP both on a personal and profession level.  A shift in the culture of medical practice and education is needed to retain and promote women. 

I hope that we can start to recognize the importance of alternate pathways to and within our careers to make leadership roles appealing and accessible to more women.  

This is a place for true inter-professional collaboration.  We can bring together diverse experiences to recognize and solve problems and decrease barriers.  I look forward to seeing what we can develop at the intersection of our professions.

—Lillian Navarro-Reynolds, WLDP P.A. Program Faculty Leader, OHSU

The Women's Leadership Development Program at OHSU was an inimitable component of my education as a medical student at OHSU – it provided me with leadership skills I would not have had the chance to develop otherwise (and, perhaps more critically, encouragement to leverage those skills). It also provided me with a rich community of bright, bold women that pushed me to the edge of my potential.

Now that I am in the residency phase of my training, I've found joy in offering mentorship and guidance to current WLDP student members.

One thing I love about the WLDP is the respectful flattening of hierarchy: there are many women-identified attendings I've felt comfortable reaching out to because of their involvement in our network, and similarly I have been a resource to students who may not have contacted me without the WLDP.

—Hannah Dischinger, M.D., Internal Medicine Resident OHSU and WLDP Alumni and Senior Leader, Class of 2020, OHSU School of Medicine