International Women's Day 2020
VPSA celebrates the work of women physicians
In anticipation of International Women’s Day 2020, the Vancouver Physician Staff Association canvassed members for the names of women physicians who have made extraordinary contributions to the workplace. We salute all our female members and invite you to read about the women who agreed to be profiled this year.
Dr. Sujaatha Narayanan
Dr. Narayanan is the medical director of the Leukemia/Bone Marrow Transplant Program of British Columbia.
She graduated from medical school in India before moving to the United Kingdom. There she completed training in internal medicine, hematology and hematopathology. Motivated by the desire to improve outcomes for patients with aggressive hematological malignancy, Dr. Narayanan pursued additional training through a fellowship in bone marrow transplantation in the UK before moving to Canada in 2006. She underwent further training at the L/BMT Program of BC before joining as an attending physician in December 2007. Over the years, she has held several leadership positions within the program including being the fellowship program director and quality director before starting her current role as medical director in December 2018.
When not at work, Dr. Narayanan can be found with her husband (a family physician) and two sons aged 9 and 10 who are their absolute pride and joy.
What advice would you give to young women considering entering medicine in 2020?
“This is a phenomenal career and vocation to have and you should be very proud of yourselves. A career in medicine does, however, mean making some hard choices. You have to determine what is important to you at any given time point (i.e., career advancement versus family/children) and be happy with the choices you are making. Although you cannot have everything at the same time, you can achieve all your goals over time with patience, hard work and perseverance.”