Page 16 - Women Unlimited | Rochester Medicine | University of Rochester Medical Center

Cover Story: Women, Unlimited
Gina Cuyler
(MD ’92, Res ’95)
President and Co-founder
Black Physicians Network
of Greater Rochester, Inc.
Owner and Founder
Comprehension Internal Medicine
ROCHESTER
26 26 ROCHESTER MEDICINE | 2019 – V2MEDICINE |
Wanting to know more about concierge medicine, Black Physicians Network of Greater Rochester, Inc., a
Gina Cuyler, a primary care physician, asked a male nonprofit agency that matches engaged role models with
colleague about his work in the area, but he shared underrepresented youth who want to pursue careers in
little information. More recently, after sitting beside medicine—and she serves as a mentor and collaborator
a different male colleague for two hours at a lecture, herself.
she broached the subject again, but he was no more
forthcoming. “If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the
problem,” she notes.
But when Cuyler approached a female physician on the
topic—someone she had just met—their discourse With black female physicians representing about 4
was casual and fluid. percent of doctors in the U.S., and women representing
approximately 39 percent of all physicians, “it would
“Possibly the shared affinity of being women facilitated be impossible to find all female mentors for female
the conversation,” she says. “Possibly some unspoken mentees, given these demographics,” says Cuyler, who
bond of having overcome challenges based on being also owns a medical consulting firm. “It is even more
different than the traditional white male physician challenging to find mentors along racial lines.”
prototype made it easier to connect.”
Complicating matters, she continues, is the trend of
Originally from Panama, Cuyler says she knew firsthand men in leadership roles becoming increasingly reluctant
about conscious and unconscious bias—both because to mentor women in the age of the #MeToo movement,
of her gender and race—through microagressions afraid of being accused of harassment.
during her residency and internship in internal medicine
at the University of Rochester Medical Center. The answer is not in simply pairing women with
women, or one race with the same race, in Cuyler’s
“I realized you can work as hard as you possibly can, opinion. It is about building on shared experiences and
but somebody else’s opinion can result in an outcome shared goals.
that’s different than it should be,” she says. “There isn’t
always a concept of fairness.” “We need to create environments where we can give
people the knowledge and tools they need not only to
Cuyler responded with advocacy work to diversify the thrive, but also to help others be all they can be,” she
face of medicine, work that earned her the University says. “We need to keep thinking outside the box and
of Rochester Presidential Diversity Award in 2017. She encouraging each other.”
co-founded and serves as president of the
2019 – V2