Several media outlets recently ran stories about Amber Edwards, MD, the first female cardiac surgeon at Ascension Saint Thomas Heart in Nashville, Tennessee.
Nashville Public Radio explored the gender imbalance in cardiac surgery and obstacles to women entering the field. Dr. Edwards said she was warned as soon as she showed interest in the field that she would be the only woman wherever she goes.
Although she has steady hands, they’re also small. Her size puts her at a disadvantage, she told WPLN. She usually has to stand on a stool, and she has to use two hands for some tools designed to be used with one, such as when she wires the chest back together at the end of a surgical procedure.
“I frequently joke that this is why women don’t go into this field — it’s because it’s so difficult to cut those wires,” she said. “I just did this beautiful heart surgery, and now I look like an idiot trying to cut these wires because my hands are too small.”
After finishing her undergraduate studies at East Carolina University in just three years, then 21-year-old Amber began her first year of medical school. Every Tuesday, she would skip class to learn firsthand in the operating room, according to WGNS Radio. She fell in love with cardiac surgery and completed six years of residency as an integrated cardiothoracic surgery intern at the University of Rochester.
“Cardiac surgery is rigorous,” Dr. Edwards told WSMV-TV. “The hours are long and the complications are significant.”
“I always wanted to be a surgeon ever since I knew surgery was an option,” she said. “Cardiac surgery also requires a lot of thinking – being almost an ICU doctor at the same time as being a surgeon.”
In 2017, women comprised nearly a quarter of heart surgery residents and fellows. However, women only account for seven percent of active surgeons.
