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Former APA senior deputy medical director Carolyn B. Robinowitz, M.D., has been named dean of Georgetown University School of Medicine in Washington, D.C., effective July 1.
Her appointment will make Robinowitz the first woman psychiatrist to be dean of a medical school and one of only nine women deans among the nation’s 125 medical schools.
Robinowitz spoke with Psychiatric News about her appointment and its implications for women and psychiatry.
Although her appointment shows that women can break through the "glass ceiling," it still exists, she commented.
"It’s always nice once you shatter something, because it will never be as strong as it was. But we have to recognize that it still exists."
There are still limitations for women based "on cultural stereotypes and institutionalized perceptions," she continued. "No matter how much we talk about them, they exist, and I don’t think any area is immune."
Compared with men, women leaders are "very different. . . . [T]hey are more nurturing, more inclusive, and less hierarchical," she observed. This may require some adjustment for those accustomed to the typical male leadership style.
"I think most women feel a commitment to bringing women into the network," Robinowitz said. But there is an absence of mentors, men or women, who will "take women in tow." About 50 percent of young residents are women, "and if they don’t get nurtured and mentored, that’s a wasted resource."
"What we’re seeing in the younger generation of men is a lot more shared responsibility," which may permit women to advance more easily, she observed. "But it’s still a struggle. Unfortunately, it is sad for me to think that in psychiatry, which has been very hospitable to women, there haven’t been good results in promoting women to organizational and institutional leadership positions."
Her appointment reaffirms the growing stature of psychiatry within medicine, she said. "I think psychiatrists are respected. We have some extraordinary deans, such as Herb Pardes. I think we have an opportunity to change some stereotypical thinking about psychiatrists. And it means that if decisions are made, we have a lot more input about psychiatric care."
The evolution of the field, with increased understanding of behavior and the brain, must be more effectively communicated to medical students, she commented. "We need to do a better job teaching medical students about psychiatry, and I think academic deans in the medical setting can contribute to that. Part of the job is getting the medical students to see what can be done in psychiatric care. We also have to let the residents know what they can do and what their limitations are."
Robinowitz has been associate dean for students at Georgetown University since 1994. Before that she spent 18 years with APA, where she served in a variety of leadership roles. She was the first woman director of APA’s Office of Education and later became senior deputy medical director and chief operating officer. She continues to serve on a number of APA components, including the APA Task Force on Strategic Planning.
Robinowitz has long been concerned with educational issues and, with outgoing medical school dean William Maxted, M.D., led efforts for new teaching methods at Georgetown. These included computer-based learning and evidence-based medicine, which emphasizes diagnostic techniques and scientific data in clinical decision making.
She was the first woman president of the Council of Medical Specialty Societies, president of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, president of the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry, and president of the Association for Academic Psychiatry. She is currently president-elect of the American College of Psychiatrists.
"I wish her well and congratulate her," said former APA deputy medical director Jeanne Spurlock, M.D. "I applaud her for getting this appointment, but I think the glass ceiling still exists. Having shattered a piece of it doesn’t mean it’s gone."
Former APA president Carol Nadelson, M.D., has been a friend and colleague of Robinowitz for many years. It is significant for psychiatry that Robinowitz is "the first woman psychiatrist appointed a [medical school] dean," Nadelson commented.
"Carolyn is uniquely talented and has an ability to work with people at all levels and in all kinds of situations. If there’s a job to do that has to get done, Carolyn will do it. No amount of detail will stop her short - she’ll get it done. And I think people recognize that - that she has the smarts, the knowledge, and the tenacity to get things done."
Another aspect of her personality is "that she is humane and caring," Nadelson added. "For me she’s been a loyal friend and absolutely someone you can count on. And I think people know that. [Her appointment] is a fine statement for American psychiatry. It says something about the caliber and quality of people we’ve had in our leadership and the respect we’ve gained from medical colleagues."
Former APA president Herbert Pardes, M.D., dean of Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, sees the Robinowitz appointment as an affirmation of American psychiatry.
"American psychiatry and APA should be proud, because Carolyn represents the soul of American psychiatry," Pardes commented. "She is someone who comes right out of the central fabric of American psychiatry. She’s one of ours. We’ll root for her to be tremendously successful, which I’m sure she will be."
That there are now more than a dozen medical school deans who are psychiatrists in the nation’s 125 medical schools "bespeaks psychiatry’s full integration into medicine," Pardes observed.
As an individual, Robinowitz is "superb to be dean of a medical school," Pardes added. As a former APA education director, she brings a long-standing commitment to improving medical education.
"She is a very hard-working person with an excellent set of values; she is very politically knowledgeable, very good with people, and has many good contacts.
"It is very welcome that there are more women taking leadership positions in medicine," Pardes continued.
Women now constitute about 42 percent of all medical students in the United States, and it is fitting that more women should assume leadership roles in medicine, he said.