Vivian Pinn, MD, on Leadership and Women's Health Research
As a passionate pioneer in women’s health research, Dr. Pinn shares her perspective and advice to the rising generation of women in medicine.
Vivian Pinn, MD, the founding director of the Office of Research on Women’s Health at the National Institutes of Health, is a trailblazer for women and a tireless advocate for quality healthcare for all.
Dr. Pinn’s role as a leader in groundbreaking research has helped save lives by shining a light on sex-based differences in health care, an achievement that earned her the 2020 Alma Dea Morani Renaissance Award, the most prestigious honor bestowed by the Women in Medicine Legacy Foundation.
“Now we know that heart disease presents differently for women. In the past, so many women were told they had indigestion, then would come back with a full-blown myocardial infarction,” Dr. Pinn says. “Every day, we see improved medical care as a result of gender-related research. The application of what we are learning from these comparisons, that women may respond differently to interventions and medications, is making a tremendous difference.”
Raised in Lynchburg, Virginia, and educated in segregated public schools, Dr. Pinn has been a passionate advocate of research since her mother’s death from cancer at age 46.
“I knew research was the key to curing cancer,” she says.
As the only woman and the only African-American in her class at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, Dr. Pinn knows the loneliness and isolation many of her peers have felt on their career paths.
“An essential part of leadership is helping others who are coming up,” she says. “Even though the situation has improved, we still have some challenges that exist. Women and minorities are still experiencing micro-aggression. We need younger folks to take up that battle.”
In 1991, when Dr. Pinn earned the opportunity to lead the fledgling Office of Research on Women’s Health, she hesitated briefly. As a successful physician and researcher, she was accustomed to speaking her mind “and I didn’t know if that was going to fly in government.”
She took on the challenge and headed the office for 20 years. Under her leadership, the office launched NIH research inclusion policies for women and minorities in clinical research, developed the first-ever national strategic plans for women’s health research, and established many new research funding initiatives and career development programs. Dr. Pinn also established and co-chaired the NIH Committee on Women in Biomedical Careers with the NIH Director.
One of her objectives was to increase the number of women in leadership roles in research and academic institutions. While more than half of medical students are women, Dr. Pinn notes there is still a leadership gap between men and women in research. At the Office of Research on Women’s Health, she launched a program to help trained scientists of both genders who had interrupted their careers—many to raise children—to resume their work.
On Leadership
She encourages other women in medicine to take on the mantle of leadership with enthusiasm and confidence.
“You may not get the first leadership position you want. But keep pursuing it. Always be open to new opportunities,” she says. “If you don’t have a seat at the table you may be what is being served for dinner.”
It’s not enough for organizations to recruit women for leadership roles. Implementing programs to help them succeed is also essential.
“We need to think about programs, resources, and actions to sustain that leadership,” she says.
Valerie Montgomery Rice, Dean of the Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta and its first woman president, met Dr. Pinn in the 1990s, when Dr. Rice was conducting research at NIH. In an article in Modern Healthcare, she describes Dr. Pinn as the “matriarch of African-American and women physicians and scientists.”
Dr. Pinn says participating in research, her academic work, setting funding priorities, and supporting and encouraging research careers is the essence of her more than half a century as a pathologist and physician.
Honors
Over a long and fruitful career, she has received more than 300 honors and awards. She was the first African-American woman elected to Modern Healthcare’s Hall of Fame. In 2019, she was presented with the John D. Thompson Distinguished Visiting Fellow Award by the Yale University School of Public Health.
One of her greatest honors came in 2016 when UVA renamed the university’s medical research and education building Pinn Hall.
Dr. Pinn will accept the Alma Dea award at a virtual event hosted by the New York Academy of Medicine on November 19, 2020. The honor is presented each year to a woman who has advanced contemporary medicine, made significant contributions outside of science, and challenged the status quo with a passion for learning. As part of this event, Dr. Pinn will also deliver remarks on ‘Women in Academic Medicine: Leadership and Intersectionality Matter. ‘
There are now more women entering medical school than men. But that doesn't mean our work is done. To achieve our best future, women need to be active in leadership roles across the industry from academics, to healthcare, to research. In this series, the Foundation talks to leaders in medicine to get their perspective on how we move forward building on the strides we've already taken.