Otologist-neurotologist Sujana S. Chandrasekhar, MD, FACS, will receive the Dr. Mary Edwards Walker Inspiring Women in Surgery Award at Convocation during Clinical Congress 2023 in Boston, Massachusetts.
“Receiving this award is a huge honor for me,” said Dr. Chandrasekhar, a partner at ENT and Allergy Associates in New York, New York. “Awards like this showcase the importance that the House of Medicine, our House of Medicine, puts on supporting diversity, equity, and inclusion in surgery.”
Dr. Chandrasekhar is acknowledged as one of the leading authorities on sudden sensorineural hearing loss and has led groundbreaking research on the treatment of otitis media with an intranasal spray of surfactant.
Throughout her distinguished career, she has sought ways to improve the quality of care she provides patients, joining and taking on leadership roles in various healthcare organizations such as the American Academy of Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery (AAO-HNS), American Otological Society (AOS), and the ACS. While serving in these roles, Dr. Chandrasekhar noticed gaps where women and other underrepresented populations in medicine were not adequately involved in meetings and other leadership positions.
Inspiring Women through Actionable Change
In 2017, after listening to a panel featuring only men at the annual American Neurotology Society (ANS) conference, Dr. Chandrasekhar expressed concern that more was not being done to bring diverse voices into panel sessions. As a result of her speaking up, the ANS, AOS, and sister societies changed bylaws to prevent panel sessions featuring only men.
Dr. Chandrasekhar also successfully advocated that all panel submissions to the AAO-HNS annual meeting document the presence of a woman or physician who is underrepresented in medicine, which drastically improved meeting diversity. In addition, she was one of a group of determined women and ENT surgeons who created the Women in Otolaryngology (WIO) Section of the AAO-HNS and Foundation and ensured a permanent WIO seat on the AAO-HNS Finance and Investment Subcommittee and Board of Directors. These efforts resulted in more than $150,000 in grants disbursed to projects focused on women in otolaryngology.
“Dr. Chandrasekhar’s contributions to advancing women in surgery are numerous and impactful,” said Nancy M. Young, MD, FACS, FAAP, Lillian S. Wells Professor of Pediatric Otolaryngology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, Illinois, who has worked closely with Dr. Chandrasekhar on committees and leadership boards for more than 20 years. “She is a woman of courage who speaks with grace and diplomacy.”
During the COVID-19 pandemic, she took another role as an educator, co-hosting a videocast, “She’s on Call.” The videocast showcased different topics in medicine for the public, medical students, and healthcare providers. One memorable episode for International Women’s Day featured ACS Past-President (2021–2022) Julie A. Freischlag, MD, FACS, and Carol R. Bradford, MD, MS, FACS, discussing the representation of women in leadership roles in medicine.
Through this advocacy, both directly and indirectly, Dr. Chandrasekhar said she hopes more women and others underrepresented in medicine see themselves as leaders from the start of their careers.
“I’m really proud that in a small way, I’ve been able to show my wing of the House of Medicine that it’s important to look to diverse content producers,” she said. “Now, I’m so glad that people of all backgrounds can look at a panel session and say to themselves, ‘I can be there too’ or ‘Maybe that’s something I’d like to try.’”
Career Highlights
Dr. Chandrasekhar obtained her medical degree from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. She served as an intern, resident, and chief resident in general surgery and otolaryngology-head and neck surgery at New York University Medical Center and completed a fellowship in otology/neurotology at the House Institute Ear Clinic in Los Angeles, California. Dr. Chandrasekhar has published more than 110 peer-reviewed articles.
In addition to her position at ENT and Allergy Associates, Dr. Chandrasekhar is director of neurotology at the James J. Peters Veterans Affairs Medical Center, clinical professor of otolaryngology at Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra-Northwell, and clinical associate professor at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai—all in the New York metropolitan area—as well as a teaching faculty member of five otolaryngology residency programs. She also is president of the AOS.
The Inspiring Women in Surgery Award is presented annually at Clinical Congress in recognition of an individual’s contributions to the advancement of women in the field of surgery. The award honors the fortitude and accomplishments of Mary Edwards Walker, MD, the first female surgeon to serve in the US Army and the only female recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor.
