Being a Woman and a Physician: A Women in Medicine Month Interview

AACOM thanks Isaac Gollapalli, OMS II, Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine (MSUCOM), for conducting the below Women in Medicine Month interview with J’Aimee Lippert, DO.

Dr. Lippert serves as associate professor and assistant dean, COM admissions and student affairs, at MSUCOM.

What encouragement would you give to women who are pursuing a career in medicine?

In my experience, women who are also physicians face many joys and many challenges. Finding ways to balance the mixed expectations and responsibilities of identifying not only as a physician but also as a daughter, partner, parent and community servant are difficult, no question. What we bring to the house of medicine, though, is so tremendously important that working toward achieving that balance is extremely critical to the wellbeing of our families, communities and all of healthcare.  

With that in mind, I would encourage all women interested in becoming a healthcare professional to seek and establish reliable mentorship. Value your own health and wellbeing.  Embrace osteopathic principles for your own life and that of your family. Remember every single day that you are enough, you are valued and you have strength. There will be days that it is hard to realize these things, so being intentional with this on a daily basis stores up positivity for the days you really need it.

Do you have any challenges that you faced as a woman that uniquely helped make you stronger on your journey?

One of the greatest challenges I have faced as a woman in medicine is the often-competing motivations to engage in leadership and advocate for change while also striving to be high achieving academically; the added role of mother added a whole new world of learning curves, sleeplessness, physical demands and emotional roller coasters. 

Through all these experiences, I definitely had highs and lows—times I excelled in one or more areas, and times where I felt like the master of mediocrity in everything. As I have learned more about the eight dimensions of wellness (physical, emotional, spiritual, intellectual, financial, social, environmental, occupational), I take comfort in knowing that even though I may not feel optimal in all those areas, there is always health to be found. Having an exceedingly supportive life partner in my husband and two incredible families (my own and my husband’s) made such a difference. 

I am still learning the art of balance, but as my husband and I look back over the 30 years of our marriage, parenthood and professional lives, we are both quite proud and filled with happiness about the life we’ve built.  

How did the environment at MSUCOM encourage you to pursue medicine as a woman?

I had excellent women mentors throughout my four years as a student at MSUCOM, many of whom were my peers. I was guided and encouraged during preclerkship by women of the faculty and staff including Dr. Paulette Lovell in Admissions, Dr. Celia Guro in our version of Wellness and Counseling back in the day and teachers like Laryssa Kaufman, Lisa DeStefano, Jennifer Gilmore and Ann Auburn. 

My women peers during preclerkship, including Heather Ferrill, Jennifer Paltzer, Lori Dillard, Kim Mitchell and Natalie Goran all come to the front of my mind, although I hate to leave anyone out as there were so many others, as well. We found great support in one another and worked hard, served hard and did our best to enjoy the osteopathic medical school experience.

Clerkship was a new challenge, putting us on the front lines of patient care. In that environment, my influential women preceptors included Susan Sevensma (Family Medicine and eventually my FM residency program director), Ann Weaver (Anesthesiology) and Mary Pell (Family Medicine).  Having strong women physicians take me under their wing (even if they didn’t see it that way!) was incredibly helpful to me as I became a mother and faced what I now know to be implicit (and sometimes explicit) bias in the world of medicine. 

So many strong women role models came before me to fight battles they shouldn’t have had to fight, but they did it anyway, perhaps not knowing the long-term impact it would have on future generations. We still have work to do, though, and I love the incredible team we have here at MSUCOM that continues to support, guide and elevate one another to greater accomplishment.