Every September, the American Medical Association designates Women in Medicine Month to recognize the growing number of women in the medical field and to celebrate their contributions, advocacy and mentorship. This year, UC San Diego Health spoke with three women at different career stages — an emergency room resident just starting out, a mid-career nurse leader, and a chief medical officer— about what drew them to medicine, the challenges they've navigated, and the connections with patients and colleagues that keep them engaged in their chosen field.
No matter what stage of your career — or life — their stories point to one common thread: connection makes all the difference.
What inspired you to go into medicine and what experience are you most proud of?
Catheryn Yashar, MD, chief medical officer
My inspiration was oddly specific. I was in ninth grade at a performing arts high school in Louisville, Kentucky — my mom is a musician, so I'd been on the music track. During a biology class, we had a career day, and afterward my teacher asked what had caught my interest. I told her the lab technologist role looked interesting. She looked at me and said, "No — you want to be a doctor. You should be a doctor." That was it. I decided right then, and I never looked back.
What I'm most proud of is harder to name, but it comes back to balance — being able to build the career I have while still feeling I haven't compromised my family priorities. I'm married and we have three children who are healthy and happy. Managing both well is genuinely difficult, and I don't take it for granted.
Diana Davalos, RN, nurse manager. Photo courtesy Davalos
Diana Davalos, RN, nurse manager
My mom was the one who introduced me to medicine — she was a surgical tech at a local hospital and spent years working in the operating room and outpatient environment. After I got out of the military, I was a single mom working a secretarial job that barely covered childcare, so I knew I needed a different path. I had the GI Bill, and my mom suggested nursing since she worked closely with nurses. I liked that it wasn't a desk job — and I knew I wanted to work with people, not just tools — so I jumped in with both feet and enrolled in school full time. The more I learned, the more I knew nursing was my fit: it's never dull, there's always something new to learn, and I get to work with incredible people every day.
I'm proud of every stage I've reached to get where I am now. Passing nursing school was a big deal. Getting my first nursing job was a big deal. Earning my master's degree, becoming a nurse manager — each one felt like a milestone at the time, and I'm proud of all of them. But I am not solely responsible for what my team has accomplished, including being named Team of the Year and winning a Beacon Award. My educator and assistant nurse manager complement my strengths in ways that benefit our whole team of more than 100 direct reports. We let one another be who we are, and we hold each other accountable — if I'm not seeing the full picture, they'll call me out on it, and I'm always willing to adapt.
Sarah Chaides, MD, resident, Department of Emergency Medicine
A lot of people have some exposure to medicine, even just as a patient. My first real spark was in Girl Scouts, in middle and high school — one of our badges required spending time with different professionals to learn about their work. I was lucky that my uncle is a pediatrician so I spent a handful of afternoons in his clinic. I loved it — being with people all day, talking with them, getting a glimpse into their lives and helping them through whatever they were going through. As I got further into college and did more shadowing, I could really see myself doing this. I never pictured myself behind a desk, and medicine let me have all the interactions with people that I loved.
When I think about what I'm most motivated by and proud of, it comes back to why I chose emergency medicine in the first place — to help people. Most of the time, when someone comes to the emergency department, it's the worst day of their life, and I get to be part of guiding them through whatever is happening in a way that makes it a little less difficult.
"Once you're through the door, you need to remember to hold it open so the people coming behind you can follow."
— Catheryn Yashar, MD
Catheryn Yashar, MD, performing interstitial brachytherapy. Photo courtesy of Yashar
What gets you out of bed in the morning, and how has that changed as you've moved through your career?
Yashar
When I started out as a physician, I was taking care of one patient at a time, and I still find that incredibly satisfying — I still see patients. But now that I have a larger role in the health system, the changes we make affect far more people: how they access care, how safe that care is. It's a bigger imprint, though it takes a great team to make it happen — it's no longer just me and one patient. Medicine always requires a team, but in my new role, the team is even larger, more multidisciplinary and even more dependent on cooperation, communication and strong teamwork to have a meaningful impact.
Davalos
When I was a new graduate, it was all about patient care — caring for my patients, keeping them safe, and getting the tasks done well. Over time, I started noticing process challenges so I began targeting them within my own scope, first as a charge nurse and then as an assistant nurse manager. You can't boil the ocean, so I learned to work on one thing at a time to make meaningful change.
Now, what gets me up is knowing I'm doing right by the people around me — my staff. If I take care of my nurses, they're able to give their patients the best possible care, and that patient's family gets that person at the best they can be, in whatever moment of life they're in. I try to be flexible when someone on my team has something that needs to be addressed in their lives and give them the time they need to process so they continue to feel balanced and ready to do a good job. We address challenges and issues together to make the workplace and patient care the best possible.
Chaides
It always comes back to helping people first — being there to make things a little better during a hard time. That's something I remind myself of during a stretch of overnight shifts. The team you work with makes all the difference. When you are managing a difficult patient case and you look around the room at everyone doing exactly what they need to do, working together like a well-oiled machine, that's a pretty amazing thing to be part of. I've gotten to know so many of the nurses, technicians and colleagues in our department because we're together all the time, and that camaraderie makes the job enjoyable and fulfilling.
What challenges have you faced in your career, and what advice would you give to other women aspiring to follow the same path?
Yashar
Knowing when to say yes and when to say no has been one of my biggest challenges — avoiding taking on too much, because saying yes to something you don't have time to do well can be worse than saying no. I've also been fortunate to have real support throughout my career, from my bosses and from my family, so I wouldn't say I've lacked that as a woman. I know I'm lucky in that respect.
The advice I'd give my younger self, and any woman coming up now, is to weigh each decision carefully — and once you're through a door, remember to hold it open. Make sure you're creating opportunities for the people coming up behind you, because someone was always helping you get where you are. Don't forget to pass that along.
Davalos
A lot of my biggest challenges have honestly been personal — and when your personal life isn't where it should be, it's hard for your work life to be satisfying. Going through a difficult divorce changed me; it made me more compassionate, because I've come to understand that I have no idea what's going on in someone else's life. I can't fix everything for my staff, but I can give them space — if someone is going through something hard, I'll ask what they need, whether that's time off or another kind of support. We do have really helpful supportive services at UC San Diego Health and I try to make sure my staff knows how to access them.
My advice for anyone starting out: take care of yourself. We talk with new nurses during check-ins about sleep hygiene, hydration, getting outside — especially for those transitioning to night shift, which can be really jarring. It's not just about the work; if you're not taking care of yourself outside of it, you won't be able to function well inside it.
Chaides
For me, it's been imposter syndrome — something we talk about a lot in medicine and in medical school, that feeling of second-guessing whether you know enough or are doing the right thing. I actually think there's some benefit to a little bit of that; it pushes you to stay sharp and keep checking yourself. But it also makes you second guess yourself at times when you need to be confident in your skills. Fortunately, that gets better the more you progress in your career.
My advice to other women following this path is to find mentors — people in your field you trust, who you look up to, and who will give you honest feedback. Having people like that in your corner, people you can go to with questions, is so important for career development. Our department has done a great job of having those kinds of people to look to.
Has there been a past patient interaction that impacted how you practice medicine?
Yashar
As an oncologist, one of the hardest parts of the job is that you want to help everyone go into remission without side effects — and that isn't always possible. Learning to manage the toxicities of treatments that may have saved someone's life, but left them with lifelong changes, has been a real education over the course of my career.
What stays with me, though, is how much dignity, joy and bravery patients hold on to through all of it. I can't tell you how many patients have apologized to me for crying after a diagnosis. I always tell them not to apologize. It's completely appropriate and healthy to feel devastated by news like that, and it always surprises me that people feel they need to hold it back. It is an honor to be there for patients in those moments.
Davalos
I experienced a patient interaction that escalated during a psychotic episode. It was a profound experience for me that motivated me to make process change to set clear expectations and policies to ensure all staff have the education and support needed in a vulnerable situation like that.
The other patients who've shaped my perspective are the terminally ill and comfort care patients. They remind me how short life is — sometimes they're younger than me, and it's like looking at your own mortality. It's hard, but it also reminds me to be present and grateful that I have purpose and I get to do the work I love.
Chaides
I think of a patient we had on our trauma service — a man who was deaf, with a really complicated hospital course. He was in the intensive care unit for a prolonged time. Near the end of my rotation, we were going through his chart and realized it was his birthday. He'd been there so long, and was spending his birthday in the hospital — so we brought him a cake from the cafeteria. It was a special moment I will never forget.
It's a small thing, but it reminded me to think about patients as people outside of their diagnosis, outside of the one problem that brought them in that day. You don't always have a lot of time with someone in the hospital, but remembering that they have a whole life outside the moment you're sharing with them brings the encounter full circle and helps you understand them on a deeper personal level.
"My advice to other women following this path is to find mentors — people in your field you trust, who you look up to, and who will give you honest feedback."
— Sarah Chaides, MD, resident
How can universities, medical schools and hospitals create environments that promote respect, fairness, equity and work-life balance for women?
Yashar
When someone takes on a new leadership role, I think it's important that they give opportunities for their previous role so there's room for someone else to grow into that space.
Being objective about what a role actually requires, and asking every candidate the same questions in an interview matters too — it gives people an equal chance to show their thinking and where they can shine.
As an example of strong leadership, I found it inspiring when I learned Patty Maysent, UC San Diego Health CEO, stepped away from her career early on to be home with her children when they were young. She came back into the workforce and built an extraordinary career. What she did took real courage. She's proof that redirecting your priorities for a while doesn't have to close the door on what you want to accomplish later.
Davalos
I like a phrase from Brené Brown: clear is kind, and unclear is unkind. We've worked hard to be clear with staff about expectations, which isn't always simple in a large university system.
We have a new generation of nurses starting their careers, and it's important to recognize how generations all work differently. Navigating what works best for my staff helps position them to have more ownership with their career and sets them up for success.
Chaides
Having women in leadership positions matters, especially when decisions are being made about what our workplace looks like. On a smaller scale, having a space where physicians — and especially our female physicians — can come together and talk through these issues and learn from each other is really valuable.
Our department has a Women in Emergency Medicine group. I'm one of the resident co-coordinators now. We get together a few times a year for events — sometimes a discussion around a topic like imposter syndrome or personal finance, sometimes just a beach day or dinner together. Having that kind of space to talk and connect with each other is essential.
