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In This Issue:
After completing more than a decade of surgical training, Yolonda Colson, MD, PhD, just completed her first full year as an attending thoracic surgeon. Colson is one of two female thoracic surgeons at BWH.
Colson’s proudest professional accomplishment to date is passing her Thoracic Boards this past year. Although being a woman puts her into a rather elite group of only approximately 125 other females in the country to be board-certified in thoracic surgery, Colson says her gender isn’t at the forefront of how she defines herself professionally.
“Being a female surgeon is a non-issue for me and my colleagues in the Department of Thoracic Surgery, where we are identified more by our surgical interests, rather than our gender,” said Colson, whose clinical and research interests lie in Thoracic Immunology—patients’ immune systems following transplantation.
Along with such a specialty comes an extremely unpredictable schedule. Juggling 3 a.m. pages to perform a lung transplant with selecting just the right dinosaur cake for her daughter’s birthday party is par for the course in Colson’s household.
“I work hard to craft my life to accommodate my role as a BWH surgeon and my commitment to my family—paying close attention to structuring my life as to not have to decide between them. Both roles, however different, are critical in how I define myself as a person,” said Colson.