20 Years, 20 Leaders: Sherry Blumenthal, MD
“Everybody has a story and it’s our job to listen without implicit bias.”
Our connection to the experiences of those who came before helps to define the present and future of medicine. The Foundation is celebrating 20 years by joining in conversation with 20 women leaders in all aspects of medicine to understand their stories and how their experiences will shape the next generation.
Sherry Blumenthal, M.D., is retired from Women Care OB/GYN in Abington, Pennsylvania. She serves on the Board of Trustees of Pennsylvania Medical Society, where she founded the Women’s Physicians Section, and is auditing classes in law at the University of Pennsylvania and Drexel University.
Why did you choose to go into medicine or your related field?
From the time I was nine years old, I was fascinated by medicine. I kept a three-by-five card file of mental health terms. I loved chemistry. I got married the week after I graduated Penn then put my husband through graduate school working as a chemist, then got a job as a chemistry teacher. I had my son. I did not go to medical school until I was 32, I was the oldest student and the only mother. But I did not want to be 60 and look back and realize it was too late to achieve my dream.
What’s your core philosophy?
We are healers and we are human beings, just as our patients are human beings. I chose to take care of women because I understand them. I know what it’s like to be pregnant. I know what it’s like to struggle. Everybody has a story and it’s our job to listen without implicit bias.
What motivates you?
We want to achieve fair and equitable maternity benefits for women physicians. We tell our patients to breastfeed, to establish a bond with their babies but most physicians have to go right back to work.
How do you motivate others?
I do a lot of mentoring and speaking to groups. I’ve established relationships with a lot of medical students and residents who can meet me any time for coffee. I am very enthusiastic about empowering women physicians and I care deeply about these issues and I think that translates.
What challenges have you had to overcome?
It was difficult having a child, commuting to school and then coming home and cooking and cleaning on my study breaks. It was exhausting. When I was a resident there was tremendous sexual harassment from the attending physicians and being treated like slave labor. I had to figure out how to squirm out of uncomfortable situations with men who had power over me. When I got into practice, my chair was a complete male chauvinist, condescending and harassing. In the operating room, women physicians were often resented by the nurses. Women did not stick together and forward one another’s career.
Humans fail. Please share a time when you failed and what you did next to move forward.
There have been times I have been disappointed in myself and felt depressed about it. The key to getting past a personal disappointment is forgiving yourself and never giving up.
Who was your most important mentor(s) and why?
I don’t feel I had mentors, which is why it’s so important to me to be a mentor. When I was at (Thomas) Jefferson (Medical College) I was interviewed by a woman physician who I believe was instrumental in me getting accepted. But she was not an ongoing source of support. I had to find that inside, from other medical students and residents, especially the other women in my residency.
What’s the most important lesson you’ve learned?
I’ve always been an outlier, and I had to learn to be true to myself and just focus on doing what is right. If you obey your conscience, you probably will succeed. When I was in medical school, I even tried dressing like the guys, in chinos and blue button-down shirts. Then, at Medical College of Pennsylvania, where I did my residency, I saw women putting on eye makeup in the ladies’ room and I thought, wow, these residents are comfortable being women.
How do you define success and how do you measure up to your own definition?
To have the feeling that you have done the best you can, by giving respect and love and advocating for things you believe in. I’ve done the best I can with what I have been given. I can say that it was very difficult to be a physician and a wife and a mother. I ask my son, who is 46, “Kid, can you ever forgive me?” And he says, “Hell no, Ma!”
What do you see in store for the future of medicine and the related fields?
I think we will see equality for women. At the same time, I am seeing less autonomy for physicians to practice. There’s more legislative interference. And there’s a greater burden of student debt.
What advice would you give to the next generation of women in medicine and the medical sciences?
Number one, have confidence in yourself and your abilities. That will equip you to advocate for equal wages and advocate for equal leadership positions.
The Backstory on Dr. Blumenthal
Dr. Blumenthal was raised in Philadelphia, the only child of her widowed mother. Her father died of a heart attack when she five. “I am the first college graduate and first physician in my family.”
She graduated cum laude from Jefferson and received various scholarships and awards, including the resident teaching award at Einstein Medical Center. In 1990, she and a partner founded their practice, which is now part of Abington-Jefferson Health. Long active in various medical associations, she is a passionate advocate for improving conditions for physicians.