Otologist-neurotologist Sujana S. Chandrasekhar, MD, FACS, will receive the Dr. Mary Edwards Walker Inspiring Women in Surgery Award during Convocation tonight.
“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 spearheaded 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) and American Otological Society (AOS). While serving, Dr. Chandrasekhar noticed gaps where women and other groups were not adequately represented in meetings and other leadership positions.
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 led the creation of 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.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, she took another role as an educator, co-hosting a videocast, “She’s on Call.” 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.
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 named in honor of Mary Edwards Walker, MD, the first female surgeon employed by the US Army, the only female recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor, and a tireless crusader for women’s rights.
