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Women's Professional Pods Program (WP3)

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womens professional pods program logo

Our Mission

To create an intentional space for professionals in medicine and science to enhance their networks and support systems while providing them with action-oriented skills focused on career advancement. 

Program History 

This program was developed by Dr. Jeannette Wolfe and her steering committee. She is the 2023 Joy McCann endowed Professor of Women in Medicine at UMass Chan. She's used this platform to develop a unique space to connect talented women, help them create new professional opportunities, and accelerate their careers. 

WP3 Connect. Create. Accelerate. 

Program Overview

Who is Eligible for Participation

This program is geared towards women and individuals who identify as minoritized gender identities in medicine and science who have an academic faculty appointment at any one of the three UMass Chan Medical Campuses- including all three schools at UMass Chan Worcester- along with other health care providers including APPs. All interested individuals are welcome to apply regardless of gender or gender identity. 

Time Commitment

As professional women are busy, this program is designed to optimize value while minimizing time commitment.  Program participation requires approximately 4-6 hours per year. 

How it Works

Each medical campus will run a series of pods, each pod containing approximately fifteen women. Women will be placed into pods based on their specialty, career point, and preference for meeting time and place (i.e., meeting at the hospital during lunch or at a pod member's home after work).  If scheduling permits, we will encourage participants to meet outside of the hospital to allow more time for discussion and exploration of that meeting's focused theme.

Each pod will run longitudinally and contain women from various career points and specialties. This is done purposefully to place women outside of their typical networks and enhance inter-disciplinary relationships while also fostering organic peer coaching and bidirectional mentoring. Due to the personal nature of this program, we are only offering in-person pods at this point. 

How Often Do the Pods Meet

Each pod will meet three times a year during pre-designated "Podweeks". Each Podweek will have a specific professional development theme and will kick off with a short podcast featuring experts from different UMass Chan medical campuses. This theme will be further explored during the pod meeting through an action-directed small group activity. 

How to Enroll

The first step to be placed into a pod is to complete the survey. New pods will be created during specific enrollment periods as numbers permit. Otherwise, we will place interested individuals into pods as spaces become available.  

Enroll Here

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