EAPCI Membership: Get to know your community of PCI specialists

EAPCI Membership: Get to know your community of PCI specialists

Doctor Fina Mauri has chaired the EAPCI Women Committee since 2016. As her term comes to an end she shares her experience, including how more women in PCI could benefit from the committee’s various initiatives to support career progression.

What did you find most rewarding or surprising about being Chair of the EAPCI Women Committee?

The EAPCI Women Committee works within the EAPCI to change the future of women at professional and patient levels. When you are surrounded by such amazing professionals, the sense of belonging to a powerful group appears. We are the protagonists of a big social change.

What are the major challenges facing women in cardiology today, especially in PCI?

The main concern is obtaining leadership positions in both clinical and academic research. The percentage of women in these roles is much lower than men. This is even more obvious in the field of PCI, which is widely dominated by men. Dr Jeroen Bax, President of the ESC, says “It is widely acknowledged that organisations with a strong female representation at top management level perform better than those without and that gender-diverse boards have a positive impact on performance”.

Nearly 60% of medical students today are women. Conversely, 90% of interventional cardiologists are men. Why do you think there is such a gap?

A major concern for women is radiation. Professional promotion coincides with the childbearing years. Women protect themselves from radiation and their employers don’t want to put them at risk. As a consequence, they don’t hire them. This could be solved with new laws on the hiring and retention of women in their place of work when they are building their families.

What led you to select this specialty? What challenges did you have to overcome?

It was my passion. Life gave me the opportunity to work in what I like the most, and my enthusiasm took it from there. From the beginning, I saw the opportunity to solve problems for patients. Marie-Claude Morice and Cindy Grines were the two female cardiologists who first inspired me, as well as Eulogio García, Antonio Colombo, Jean Marco and Gary Mintz. Later, younger doctors became an inspiration – Alaide Chieffo, Roxana Mehran, Helene Eltchaninoff, Martine Gilard, Julinda Mehilli, Isabel Calvo. Today, all young women who work with passion work for equality and to have the same visibility as their male colleagues.

Later this year the first female president of the ESC will be inaugurated and other major cardiology societies already have women at the helm. What has changed?

Society is evolving and is reflected in how individuals behave. This must also be applied to the PCI environment. Mentalities and laws need to change in order for the next PCI generation to collaborate with more female colleagues.

Fina Mauri, Chair of the EAPCI Women Committee