About Us

About

The mission of Women as One is to promote talent in medicine by providing unique professional opportunities to women physicians.

AMPLIFY

  • HIGHLIGHT the work and voices of talented women physicians through compelling digital content and original programming. 
  • ACTIVELY SUPPORT aligned global organizations with women physician stakeholders through cross promotion and collaboration.

FORTIFY

  • STRENGTHEN the pipeline of women physicians in leadership positions across healthcare through novel educational, awards and mentorship programs.
  • PROACTIVELY MATCH qualified women physicians with available professional opportunities via the Women as One Talent Directory.

UNIFY

  • UNITE healthcare organizations on the issue of gender equity by setting and promoting evidence-based diversity and inclusion goals.
  • INCORPORATE perspectives, ideas and best practices from industries outside of medicine in order to achieve the organizational mission.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Women As One was founded by Dr. Roxana Mehran and Dr. Marie Claude Morice, two internationally recognized leaders in cardiovascular care and research.

Click on an image below to read the bios.

  • Marie Claude Morice, MD
    Marie Claude Morice, MD
    Founding Director & Board Member
  • Roxana Mehran, MD
    Roxana Mehran, MD
    Founding Director & Board Member
  • Gonzague Issenmann
    Gonzague Issenmann
    Board Member
  • Azin Parhizgar, PhD
    Azin Parhizgar, PhD
    Board Member
  • Dragica Paunovic, MD
    Dragica Paunovic, MD
    Board Member

COMMITTEES

AWARDS

  • John Erwin III, MD – NorthShore University HealthSystem, USA
  • Angela Maas, MD, PhD – Radboud University Medical Center, Netherlands
  • Nanette Wenger, MD – Emory University School of Medicine, USA
  • Stephan Windecker, MD – Swiss Cardiovascular Center, Switzerland
  • Liesl Zuhlke, MBChB – University of Cape Town, South Africa

EDUCATION

  • Dawn Abbott, MD – Lifespan Cardiovascular Institute/Warren Alpert Medical School, Brown University, USA
  • Monica Acevedo, MD – Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Chile
  • Rebecca Dobson, MD, MBChB – Liverpool Heart & Chest Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, UK
  • Ajay Kirtane, MD, SM – New York-Presbyterian Hospital/CUIMC, USA
  • Fazila Malik, MBBS, MRCP – National Heart Foundation Hospital & Research Institute, Bangladesh

QUALITY, ETHICS & EQUITY STANDARDS

  • Alexandre Abizaid, MD, PhD – InCor – Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil
  • Sonya Burgess, MBBS – Nepean Public Hospital and University of New South Wales, Australia
  • Robert Byrne, MB BCh, PhD – Mater Private Hospital, Ireland
  • Sharonne Hayes, MD – Mayo Clinic, USA
  • Clara Saldarriaga, MD – University of Antioquia, Colombia

RESEARCH

  • Biykem Bozkurt, MD, PhD – Baylor College of Medicine, USA
  • Davide Capodanno, MD, PhD – University of Catania/Azienda Policlinico-Vittorio Emanuele, Italy
  • Barbara Casadei, MD – John Radcliffe Hospital, UK
  • Pam Douglas, MD – Duke University, USA
  • C. Michael Gibson, MS, MD – Baim Institute for Clinical Research, USA
  • Robert Harrington, MD – Stanford University, USA
  • Tracy Wang, MD, MHS, MSc – Duke University, USA

STAFF

  • Rebecca Ortega, MHA
    Rebecca Ortega, MHA
    Executive Director
  • Alexandra McLeod
    Alexandra McLeod
    Head of Branded Programming
  • Erika Squeri
    Erika Squeri
    Head of Engagement
  • Karoline Bowman
    Karoline Bowman
    Project Coordinator
CLICK HERE TO READ OUR BYLAWS
Marie Claude Morice, MD
Founding Director & Board Member

Marie Claude Morice, MD, FESC is the Director of Interventional Cardiology at Institute Hospitalier Jacques Cartier. She is Founder and Co-Director of Institut Cardiovasculaire Paris-Sudserves and a Founding Medical Director and CEO of the Cardiovascular European Research Centre (CERC). Her research work has been widely recognized by her peers and in 2014 she was the first woman to ever receive the Geoffrey O. Hartzler Master Clinical Operator Award from the Cardiovascular Research Centre in recognition of her work in the advancement of interventional cardiology. Dr. Morice has been Co-Director of the Endovascular Therapy Course in Paris since 1995 and is an adviser to the Ministry of Health for new technologies. She founded the PTCA program at Centre Cardiologique du Nord in 1986. She was in charge of coronary interventions in the coronary flow group of the European Society of Cardiology from 1994 to 1996 and received the Erasmus Thoraxcenter Interventional Cardiology award in 1995. Dr. Morice completed medical school at the Paris University and received training at the University Hospital of Toulouse-Purpan and the Montreal Cardiac Institute.

Roxana Mehran, MD
Founding Director & Board Member

Roxana Mehran, MD, FACC, FACP, FCCP, FESC, FAHA, MSCAI is a Professor of Medicine, Cardiology, Professor of Population Health Science and Policy, and the Director of Interventional Cardiovascular Research and Clinical Trials at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. She is co-founder of the Academic Research Consortium (ARC) and SCAI Women in Innovations (SCAI-WIN) and is a founding physician of the Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CRF), where she is currently Chief Scientific Officer. She has served as principal investigator for numerous large global clinical studies, developed risk scores for bleeding and acute kidney injury, and authored 900 peer-reviewed articles. Dr. Mehran has received numerous prestigious awards, most recently the 2018 Wenger Award for Excellence in Medical Leadership from WomenHeart: The National Coalition of Women with Heart Disease. Prior to Mount Sinai, Dr. Mehran held appointments at Columbia University Medical Center and Washington Hospital Center. She completed internal medicine training at the University of Connecticut and fellowships in cardiovascular disease and interventional cardiology at Mount Sinai Medical Center.

Gonzague Issenmann
Board Member

Gonz is a serial Medtech entrepreneur, passionate about innovation and medical technologies. He is convinced that greater gender equality in the workplace and more women in leadership positions will benefit society as a whole, and intends to be a driving force of this evolution.

Gonz is the co-founder and Executive Chairman of Womed, whose mission is to help women improve their fertility by protecting and restoring their uterus for pregnancy. The first product is a medical device to treat and prevent bonding of the uterine walls after surgical intervention, which is responsible for one miscarriage in five.

He was the CEO of Stentys, a company he co-founded, bringing it from inception to a successful commercial public company.
Gonz holds an MBA from INSEAD and a Master of Science from Ecole Centrale in Paris.

Azin Parhizgar, PhD
Board Member

Dr. Azin Parhizgar is a highly accomplished medical device executive and serial entrepreneur.  She has served as an advisor and board member to numerous emerging medtech companies as well as various academic and non-for-profit entities. Currently Dr. Parhizgar is a senior Venture Partner at 415 Capital Management, a cardiovascular focused early-stage venture investment fund, Chairman of the board of CVPath Institute, Inc. and serves as an independent director at InnovHeart  S.r.l, SoundBite Medical Inc., Project Moray among other held positions. In her five-year tenure as the President and CEO of Claret Medical, an embolic protection company, Dr. Parhizgar led the venture-backed company to a successful global commercial launch with subsequent acquisition in 2018 by Boston Scientific, Inc.  Prior to Claret Medical, she was the COO of Conor Medsystems, a reservoir based drug eluting stent Company acquired by Johnson & Johnson, Inc. in 2007.  Prior to Conor Medsystems Dr. Parhizgar was Senior Vice President at Arterial Vascular Engineering (AVE), which was acquired by Medtronic Inc. in 2000. She remained with Medtronic for the following two years as Executive Vice President of Emerging Ventures and New Technologies leading key investments in early stage companies for Medtronic Vascular division.

Dr. Parhizgar earned both her Ph.D. in Cell, Gene and Tissue Engineering and her M.Sc. in Biomechanical Engineering and Artificial Organ Design from Brown University in Providence, RI, USA.

Dragica Paunovic, MD
Board Member

Dr Paunovic started her career at National blood transfusion institute (NBTI) in Belgrade Serbia, where she was first leading emergency department at Clinical Centre of Serbia and then joined the National transplant histocompatibility centre, became a Board member of NBTI and lecturer at Belgrade University. Dr Paunovic, continued her career in industry (Terumo Europe) as a medical advisor and progressed to the position of CMO and VP clinical and later-on Global CMO for Terumo Interventional Systems (Terumo Corporation). Dr Paunovic was appointed as one of the first Fellows of Terumo. During her career, she designed and managed numerous clinical trials in the areas of interventional cardiology, peripheral vascular intervention, interventional oncology, transfusion medicine, cardiac surgery, dialysis, renal and bone marrow transplantation, with always having patients benefits in mind. Dr Paunovic co-authored books, contributed to multiple papers in peer-reviewed journals, abstracts and presentations on national or international congresses. Areas of expertise include immunology, immuno-oncology, immuno-haematology, transfusion medicine, interventional cardiology, interventional radiology/oncology, transplantation immunology. Dr Paunovic has an expertise in clinical regulatory environment, risk management of medical devices and she contributed to multiple regulatory approvals of various products within different therapeutic areas. She actively participated in several academic initiatives such as Stent for life (Stent save life), Academic Research Consortium for High Bleeding Risk Patient (ARC HBR) and others. 

Dr Paunovic obtained her medical degree at Belgrade University where she also completed her residency, specialization in immuno-haematology and blood transfusion, and thesis in immunology.

Rebecca Ortega, MHA
Executive Director

Rebecca Ortega, MHA is the Executive Director of Women as One, a nonprofit organization aimed at promoting talent in medicine by providing unique professional opportunities to women physicians. As the organization’s Executive Director, she drives strategic development, operations management and fundraising with a particular interest in innovative medical education and implementation initiatives. She is a founding officer of the organization, leading its inception and doubling the organization in size each year to date. Rebecca was previously the Director of Strategic Development at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai where she led business development activities for the Center for Interventional Cardiovascular Research and Clinical Trials, including the launch of the Lancet Women and Cardiovascular Disease Commission to reduce the global burden of disease in women worldwide. Prior, she was the Director of Education at the Duke Clinical Research Institute in Durham, NC and before that, the Director of Education at the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions in Washington, DC where her focus was on building and funding de novo educational programs and assuring regulatory compliance. She holds a master’s degree in health systems administration from Georgetown University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Davidson College.

Email: Rebecca@WomenAsOne.org

Alexandra McLeod
Head of Branded Programming

Alexandra McLeod is the Head of Branded Programming at Women as One, where she is responsible for all external programming and brand development. She has worked as an independent consultant for the past five years, providing project management and advisory services to the medical, energy and fashion industries. Prior to that, she served as Director of Meetings & Sponsorship at the Commercial Real Estate Finance Council, where she managed fundraising, meeting planning and execution. She also held positions at the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions and the MedStar Washington Hospital Center Department of Medical Education in Washington, DC. As a mother of two, she is passionate about creating stronger work-life integration for all women. Alexandra holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Georgetown University, from which she graduated cum laude. She is fluent in French and an avid Francophile.

Erika Squeri
Head of Engagement

Erika Squeri is the Head of Engagement for Women as One.  In her role, she oversees Women as One global partnerships, Talent Directory growth and development of investment vehicles.  Prior to Women as One she was the Director of Career Segments, Member Strategy at the American College of Cardiology where she led the development of ACC’s non-clinical sections including Women in Cardiology, Innovation and Fellows in Training.  She was also Associate Director of Crimson Market Advantage, Performance Technologies at the Advisory Board Company in Washington, DC.  She holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Miami University.

Karoline Bowman
Project Coordinator

Karoline Bowman is the Project Coordinator at Women as One. In this role she provides logistical support across all programs and initiatives, and participates in the planning, execution, and management of virtual and in-person meetings. Karoline has over 20 years of experience in project management and event planning. Prior to joining Women as One, she was the Director of Group Sales at a boutique European tour operator, where she designed and executed meetings and special events in locations around the world. She has also worked as a Software Engineer for medical publisher Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins. Karoline holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Towson University, where she graduated summa cum laude. As the mother of two daughters, she has a personal commitment to improving gender equity in medicine and beyond.

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