Female undergrads have flocked to science. Here’s a list of majors from 2005:
Astronomy (43 percent)
Biology (62 percent)
Chemistry (52 percent)
Earth sciences (43 percent)
Mathematics (45 percent)
Ocean science (50 percent)
Psychology (78 percent)
When Anne Moore became an oncologist, breast cancer doctors were all surgeons — and all men.
Women had yet to populate research labs or take half of the slots in med schools.
In the ‘60s, the awareness of — and funding for — detection and treatment of breast cancer type of cancer was nowhere near what it is today.
A lot has changed. Today, Moore is considered “the first name that comes to mind for women seeking help with a breast cancer diagnosis,” said Jo Ivey Boufford, president of the New York Academy of Medicine.
Last week Moore’s office at Weill Cornell Breast Center was abuzz following a medical panel’s announcement that women should wait until age 50, instead of 40, to receive regular mammograms. The information dominated national news.
Moore’s own take is that “the message should be: a woman between 40 and 50, unless she’s in a high risk group, should discuss it with her primary care doctor.”
Since 1990, breast cancer deaths have declined due to early detection to “active treatment right after surgery,” Moore said.
“Breast cancer has always been a political issue,” Moore said. “It has to do with the perception that women’s health has not been a major concern of the medical profession of the past.”
Women + science = fun night
The New York Academy of Sciences, to give more attention to women in the field and to attract more women to their audience, is launching in January a monthly series, “Girls Night Out,” featuring such well known scientists as:
Helen Fisher
A biological anthropologist who has written extensively on the evolution of sex, love, marriage and gender differences in the brain, Fisher is a big name in the love research community. The Rutgers University professor is also chief scientific advisor to the Internet dating site, Chemistry.com.
Marion Nestle
The NYU public health nutrition professor has been a pioneer in food politics, penning such books as “What to Eat” and “Safe Food: Bacteria, Biotechnology, and Bioterrorism.” She’s also a member of the FDA Food Advisory Committee and USDA Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee. metro