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Women secure place in surgery
By JIM ROSS, Times Staff Writer INVERNESS -- Lauren McDowell is right where she wants to be. Like most surgeons, she sacrificed more than a decade of her life preparing for this moment. She gave up her 20s, as she likes to say, grinding away at medical school and then working 100-hour weeks during residency. Now, at age 32, the payoff has come: a job with a good practice; a chance to work at a respected hospital and with respected colleagues; the prospects of building a family and raising it in a community she enjoys; the freedom to relax -- well, just a little bit -- and watch Wheel of Fortune every now and then without feeling guilty. All that and this too: history. In July 2000, McDowell joined the Inverness Surgical Association and obtained privileges at Citrus Memorial Hospital. Thus she became the first female general surgeon to ever join the hospital staff. For that matter, McDowell was the first female general surgeon to serve at either Citrus hospital. (Dr. Quehuong Pham, also profiled on this page, would secure staff privileges at Seven Rivers Community Hospital about 17 months later.) McDowell is proud of her place in the local medical annals. But she doesn't make a big deal of it and neither does anybody else. That, she said, is exactly as it should be. The dearth of fanfare reveals a society that is ready to accept women in a traditionally male profession, and one that is willing to let those women be themselves. "I have been well received in this community" by patients, fellow doctors and residents, McDowell said. As a general surgeon, McDowell operates on almost everything except bones, brains and hearts. On any given day she can be operating on a breast, blood vessel or gallbladder. She also has a background in handling medical trauma cases. McDowell's grandfather was a surgeon, so medicine always was part of her life. But it was a family tragedy that actually inspired her to become a doctor. McDowell's father died when she was 9. A younger brother, age 3, visited with a child psychiatrist after the death. "I had a lot of respect for the woman who was able to get him through that," she said. McDowell, who grew up in Fort Pierce, earned her bachelor of science degree at Emory University, where she was a Dean's List student majoring in biology. She spent 1991 through '95 at the University of Miami School of Medicine. By that time, McDowell had figured child psychiatry or psychology wasn't her calling. But what was her calling? Like all medical students, McDowell served a period of time, or "rotation," in various medical specialties. The epiphany struck in a most unlikely place: the operating room. "I was hooked. That was it," she said. Nothing else made her as happy as surgery. McDowell went on to complete a five-year general surgery residency and internship in Memphis through the University of Tennessee's department of surgery. McDowell said she never felt discriminated against during her training, but working in the South did present some interesting situations. When it came time to find a job, McDowell characteristically knew exactly where to focus. "I wanted to come back to Florida," she explained. "As it turned out, there was a job opening in my hometown. But the job here was generally better for me." How so? For starters, she approves of the way Inverness Surgical Association allows -- make that encourages -- its surgeons to balance their home and professional lives. McDowell, who got married last year and would like to start a family, said that philosophy works because all the surgeons subscribe to it. She also likes the way the surgeons manage their patients' care and feels comfortable with the excellence of the practice and the hospital. McDowell said she is a driven surgeon, one who takes patient care personally. In other words, she's not the kind of person who can leave her work at the office. "I hold myself to a very, very high standard," she said. Hospital staffers recognize that dedication. "She's delightful to work with. She's a good surgeon and we enjoy working with her a lot," said Shiela Stone, assistant director of nursing for perioperative services at Citrus Memorial. "She's very empathetic with the patients and the families." McDowell said she feels well established in the medical community and is building a steady caseload. About 30 percent to 40 percent of her patients come to her for breast surgery. Her partners do the same surgery, and do it well, but McDowell said she understands and welcomes women who feel more comfortable working with a female surgeon. McDowell recently became board certified, which required passing difficult written and oral examinations. She realized that, for the first time since she was a young girl, she had no pressing test or examination on the horizon. She still studies and keeps up with medical literature, of course, but the academic liberty is welcome. It gives her a chance to watch TV sometimes, especially when Survivor is on. She would love to be a contestant someday but has no illusions of success. "They might toss me off really early!" McDowell also has a horse, Poetic, and likes to read and snow ski. So, is she here for the long haul? Consider that Inverness Surgical Association surgeons tend to stick around for quite a while. And besides: "I think this is a great place to raise children," McDowell said.
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