About Us

The Women in Health Sciences (WIHS) Committee at UC San Diego is an organization dedicated to creating a fair and equitable environment for women as well as promoting networking and career development. WIHS encourages women to lead and move their careers forward  by offering biannual events to provide opportunities for women to network and learn from other women in the field about how to advance their careers and become leaders within Health Sciences. Membership is open to all and current members include non-faculty and people of varying gender identities.

The committee was founded in the Spring of 2014 by Christina Sigurdson, DVM, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Pathology; Dorothy Sears, PhD, Associate Professor, Departments of Medicine and Family Medicine & Public Health; Beth Printz, MD, Associate Professor, Department of Clinical Pediatrics; and Wendy Campana, PhD, Professor, Department of Anesthesiology and Program in Neurosciences. The four attended the AAMC Mid-Career Women Faculty Professional Development Seminar and became inspired to bring back the valuable leadership skills they had learned to UC San Diego. In collaboration with Vivian Reznik, MD, MPH, AssociateVice Chancellor for Faculty Affairs, the Women in Health Sciences committee was created with the goals of professional development, mentorship, and recognition of women within the various UC San Diego Health Sciences communities.