I was recently interviewed for an article published in the March 2012 edition of Minnesota Medicine, the journal of the Minnesota Medical Association.

In Women’s Work? Obstetrics/gynecology struggles with the gender question, author CArMen PeOtA addresses the gender shift of OB/GYN physicians from once a predominantly male to a now predominantly female presence.

My input lies toward the end of the article, under the “The Value of Gender Balance” section heading. She writes:

Those concerns didn’t put off third-year University of Minnesota ob/gyn resident James Pate, M.D. “There’s such a strong need for providers in every specialty that there will always be jobs available.” His plan is to specialize in caring for patients
with atypical gender experience. Like most men and women who go into ob/gyn, Pate says the appeal of the specialty is that it offers physicians the chance to do both primary care and surgery. Pate actually thinks it’s a good thing that nine out of 10 of his colleagues in ob/gyn residencies are female. “In the past, all of medicine was heavily dominated by men,” he says. “Having the majority of providers [be female] makes sense. They are women, and they care about women and want to provide excellent health care to women.” But he believes both males and females bring a perspective to practice that’s valuable. “Both our female colleagues and our patients appreciate the male presence,” he says.