As part of International Women's Day 2024, Episode 5 of 'More than a Hospital' features Dr. Nitha Naqvi (paediatric consultant in cardiology and director of the paediatric cardiac network at Royal Brompton), Dr. Carole Ridge (consultant radiologist at Royal Brompton and honorary senior clinical research fellow at Imperial College London) and Dr. Sonya Babu-Narayan (consultant cardiologist at Royal Brompton, associate medical director at British Heart Foundation and reader at Imperial College London), who speak candidly about their career journeys as women in medicine and how far the profession still needs to go to achieve greater inclusivity.

Dr. Naqvi won the Asian Women of Achievement Chairman's Awards in 2019 and was subsequently noted by several national media outlets as an ‘inspiring women leader’. Yet her journey to success has been far from smooth. In an open and honest conversation with Dr Ridge, she names a dismissal due to pregnancy as one of the professional hurdles she has overcome. Meanwhile, Dr Ridge leads the long tumour ablation service which won the ‘Healthcare Outcomes’ at the LaingBuisson awards in 2022. She was recently recognised for her role in interventional radiology service at the National Clinical Impact Awards. However Dr Ridge has also experienced career barriers as a woman and speaks frankly about how a lack of research on pregnant women in radiology led to the premature birth of her baby twins.

Later in the episode we hear from Dr. Babu-Narayan. In 2022 she won an ‘inspiring communicator’ award for campaigning tirelessly on behalf of heart disease patients. She is passionate about the need to better understand women’s cardiac health to ensure better outcomes, and shines a spotlight on the lack of representation of women working in cardiology.

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