Today is Ada Lovelace Day, a day on which bloggers are asked to post an article honoring women in science and technology. I have written before about the all-woman Allergy Team (including Dr. Kari Nadeau, Yael Gernez, Neha Reshamwala and Grace Yu) before, and how much I like and respect them, both as people and as doctors. However, I think it is because those are not actually two separate things (being a person and being a doctor), that this team is so exceptional. Yes, the Nadeau Lab is conducting interesting immunology research regarding T cells who are behaving badly, yes their new blood test for allergy responses seems to me to be much, much more effective than existing tests, yes they publish, teach and do all those other things that all academics, male or female, are expected to do.
What makes this team exceptional is just that: teamwork. The doctors, nurses and staff work together as a team, and they see the doctor-patient relationship as a team. This collaborative approach requires mutual respect and communication. For example, in my experience, email is the most effective means of doctor-patient communication, offering faster and better patient care while using less doctor time more efficiently. Without exception, every member of this team has emailed me, (and every single doctor who has ever provided us with an email address has been a woman). I hope and believe that this kind of care represents the future of medicine, and I am enormously grateful to Dr. Kari Nadeau and the women of the Allergy Team.
