Women to Follow During the Coronavirus/Covid-19 Pandemic

During the coronavirus pandemic, listening to experts—and those who most closely follow the virus, its effects, and the effort to combat it—is crucial. And from analysts and academics to reporters and epidemiologists; several dedicated, hard-working, qualified women have stepped up to provide information and insight. Follow the women in this list for information, clarity, and inspiration during this difficult time.

Esther Choo, ER physician, Portland, Oregon
Dr. Choo, an emergency room physician, shares her experiences from the front lines of the coronavirus crisis on her broadcast “Doctor’s Log https://www.radio.com/media/podcast/doctors-log,” giving a twice-weekly report detailing the threats, challenges, and experiences from her own ER. Her topics include ventilator shortages, unexpected secondary consequences of the virus and our efforts to fight it, and the need for personal protective equipment for healthcare workers.

Yamiche Alcindor, PBS NewsHour correspondent and political contributor to NBC News and MSNBC
Alcindor reports on the cultural and social impact, responsibility of leaders, and how health officials and political leaders are handling the crisis and remaining transparent during the pandemic.

Tara C. Smith, professor of epidemiology at Kent State University College of Public Health
Dr. Smith, an infectious disease epidemiologist and science communicator, looks at how diseases spread, covers other topics becoming more relevant to many lately such as vaccines, and examines various aspects of how the virus is being studied, such as genomics.

Weijia Jiang, CBS News correspondent
Jiang has covered the last two United States presidential administrations extensively, and has been covering how the United States combats virus. Her forthright questioning of political leadership and regular communication provide information and context.

Sue Desmond-Hellmann, physician, researcher, former CEO of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
Dr. Desmond-Hellmann, known for her work as an AIDS researcher and overseeing the world’s largest charitable foundation, focuses on business and philanthropic responses, the lives lost and affected by the virus, scientific breakthroughs, and looking forward.

Kaitlan Collins, CNN correspondent
Collins, known for covering the crisis including economic and medical strategies and fallout, is known for asking tough questions and also uses her platform to promote other voices covering the pandemic.

Dara Kass, ER physician and professor at Columbia University Medical Center
Dr. Kass posts regular information about the virus and outbreak, and advocates for informed, capable, transparent leadership and open communication.

Francesca Chambers, McClatchy correspondent
Chambers has covered political issues for several years and is now reporting on the response to the virus. Her recent reporting includes testing and outreach efforts to reduce coronavirus deaths among African American communities.

Jen Gunter, physician and New York Times contributor
An OB-GYN, Dr. Gunter discusses the coronavirus from angles ranging from public health to personal hygiene and intimacy. She also boosts several other leading voices discussing the pandemic.

Juliette Kayyem, national security analyst for CNN
Kayyem, a business owner and former assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security, offers insightful breakdowns of various aspects of preparedness, leadership, and the response to the virus, especially in the United States.

Angela Rasmussen, virologist, Center of Infection and Immunity, Columbia University
Dr. Rasmussen is a researcher who focuses on highly pathogenic viruses like Covid-19. She addresses scientific and everyday concerns about the virus in an accessible, informative way.

Paula Reid, CBS News correspondent
Reid, a journalist who has covered American leadership for years, has recently become known for her pressing questions and drive to go deeper while covering the outbreak. She shares news and analysis from many other sources on her platform as well.

Steffanie Strathdee, professor and Associate Dean of Global Health Sciences, University of California San Diego School of Medicine
Dr. Strathdee, an infectious disease epidemiologist, shares both professional and personal experiences, having advocated for a cure for her husband after he contracted an antibiotic-resistant bug.

Let us know who we missed, and keep following these and other leading voices as we come together during this time help women, and those of all genders everywhere, stay safe and healthy.

Women Lead the Way in Giving, Tech, Environment, Academics, Culture, and More

We have nothing but good news and noble causes to share with you today! We’re observing International Day of Happiness and World Water Day this week, and continue to honor and shine a light on women’s contributions in honor of Women’s History month, so we’ve collected stories about womengiving back, leading the way, earning awards, lifting one another up, and moving the needle on global issues.

Nydia Zhang: Aiming to Encourage More Philanthropy in Blockchain and Save the Planet, from Coin Rivet—“I believe strong demand for great talent has attracted more women to the space. Diversifying and making it more gender neutral could positively impact the space as more businesses move towards incorporating the technology.”

4 Women Innovators Who Are Using Tech to Help Others Live Better Lives, from Digital Trends—“Women tech entrepreneurs often say that their innovation ideas are sparked by specific problems humans are faced with. They may decide to build a robot to help the sick, code an app to feed the hungry, or solve a specific wardrobe challenge known only to women. They are also introducing high-tech solution to the areas not traditionally thought of technology frontiers. Here five female entrepreneurs share their career paths to success and opinions on the importance of gender diversity.”

Giving Circles Are Helping Young Women Make ‘Change, Not Charity’ in Their Communities, from Refinery29—“Giving circles (of which 70 percent of members are women, often in women-only groups) harness that generous instinct of people who may not have realized that they can afford to donate and have an impact.”

On World Water Day, Gender Equality and Empowerment Require Attention, from The Lancet—“Programs that integrate water resource management and climate change adaptation can adopt a mainstreaming approach, in which gender differences are considered in all aspects of the program. Gender mainstreaming needs to be done from the design phase, so gender differences and gender equality goals can be incorporated from the beginning. Women must be actively involved in this process.

Karen Uhlenbeck Is First Woman to Win Abel Prize for Mathematics, from The New York Times—“Dr. Uhlenbeck said she recognized that she was a role model for women who followed her in mathematics.
‘Looking back now I realize that I was very lucky,’ she said. ‘I was in the forefront of a generation of women who actually could get real jobs in academia.’
But she also noted: ‘I certainly very much felt I was a woman throughout my career. That is, I never felt like one of the guys.’
To find an influential woman, she looked to television.
‘Like many people in my generation,’ Dr. Uhlenbeck said, ‘my role model was Julia Child.’”

How Young Women Like Yara Shahidi Are Helping Barbie Stay Relevant, from Yahoo Finance—“Shahidi points out that Barbie’s significance and staying power go deeper than just a visual reflection. ‘I think Barbie as a brand has represented our evolution almost as a country,’ she says. ‘We’ve come a long way in that when you look at the history of women’s suffrage, especially as you get into the facts of when Native American women were allowed to vote or when black women are allowed to vote, you get into women's rights in the workplace and the rules that are being passed—these are all things that contribute to us having a freer space as women of this generation.’”

Want to receive early-bird invitations to our global events, custom-tailored content we think you'll love, and exclusive access to "The World Women Report"?

Join Us by Subscribing NOW!

Spotlight on Women and Girls in Science

This Monday was the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, and there is a lot to celebrate—and discuss—now and every day. At a time when less than 30 percent of researchers worldwide are women and girls and women still face biases, stereotypes, and barriers to entry both in education and in careers in science; we have a long way to go—but progress is being made, and has always been made, by determined girls and women.

Here are a few articles that captured our attention as we celebrate the intelligence, curiosity, and drive of girls and women; explore progress being made and issues that affect women and girls in science, and look at the contributions women have made in science throughout history.

7 Women Inspiring Twitter on the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, from Mashable—Twitter celebrated women scientists on the International Day of Women and Girls in Science with the hashtag #WomenInScience. Mashable shares the stories of seven remarkable women scientists.

Want to Be a Woman in Science? Here Is Advice From Those Who’ve Gone Before, from iAfrica—“Science can be like a family ... Surround yourself with excellence. This is especially important for women. Don’t underestimate yourself, aim high and be around people and colleagues who intellectually challenge you.”

Is This the Year of Women in Science?, from Forbes—Science educator Melanie Fine explores the limits in making any one year the “year of” women in science—and looks optimistically to continued gains for all women in scientific fields: “With the numbers of women entering scientific fields growing each year, there are now more women than men enrolled in the U.S. in both science-related bachelors and graduate degree programs. We should expect to see these numbers rise in the near future.”

This Is Why I’ve Written 500 Biographies of Female Scientists on Wikipedia, from The Independent—Jess Wade, a British physicist, discusses the importance of representation and her journey improving the representation of women scientists and engineers on: “The lack of diversity in science is more than just unfair – it impacts the science we do and the systems we create.”

Want to receive early-bird invitations to our global events, custom-tailored content we think you'll love, and exclusive access to "The World Women Report"?

Join Us by Subscribing NOW!

Meet the Women Who Helped India Reach Mars On the First Try

thewire.in - A new video gives at times a worm’s eye view and at others the big picture of how ISRO pieced together a mission to Mars – narrated by three women who were a part of it all. “Based on the experience we had in growing the space science community within the country, ISRO decided that we could go farther out, and go into interplanetary space and go to Mars.” These words, of Seetha Somasundaram, the program director at the ISRO Space Science Program Office, kick off a thoughtful new video about the Indian space organisation’s Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), narrated by three women who led various parts of the enterprise.

[embed]https://youtu.be/k6E7qGhOGCA[/embed]

Directed by Emily Driscoll, the ten-minute video is at times a worm’s eye view and at others the big picture of how ISRO pieced together a mission to Mars in an astonishing 18 months, on a famously thin budget, on the back of the efforts of hundreds of scientists and engineers. At the time of the mission’s launch in November 2013, a now-famous image of a group of sari-clad female scientists embracing each other in celebration made the rounds online. It wasn’t simply an image of a group of jubilant mission scientists but a reminder of how few women there were in an organisation whose faces on television and in the news were almost always those of men.