2024 Women in Medicine and Science Leadership Conference

Dr. Hobgood is a seasoned physician executive with a distinguished career in academic medicine. A graduate of the UNC School of Medicine, Dr. Hobgood has held leadership roles in the dean’s office, practice plan management, and as a pioneering department chair. Her contributions to academic medicine have been recognized with prestigious awards, including the 2019 UNC-School of Medicine Distinguished Medical Alumna and the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine Jon Marx Leadership Award.

Dr. Hobgood’s groundbreaking research into the intersection of gender and leadership emerged from her firsthand observation of the powerful impact senior women leaders can have on organizational culture. Driven by curiosity and a passion for fostering diverse leadership, she embarked on a rigorous multi-year study to uncover the hidden forces that shape the experiences of women in leadership roles. Through her in-depth analysis, Dr. Hobgood gained a unique perspective on how organizational culture can both hinder and support the advancement of diverse leaders. Her findings, published in several influential journals, have shed light on critical issues facing organizations today and provided invaluable insights for practitioners and scholars alike.  This extensive research forms the foundation of Dr. Hobgood’s coaching and consulting practice, where she leverages her expertise to empower individual leaders and drive positive organizational change.

Dr. Hamedani is the Founding Chair of the BerbeeWalsh Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. As chair, she oversaw significant growth of the division’s clinical, educational, and research missions, shepherding the division into an independent academic department. In Fall 2022, the Distinguished Wisconsin Endowed Chair of Emergency Medicine, which is always held by the sitting Chair of the BerbeeWalsh Department of Emergency Medicine, was renamed the Azita G. Hamedani Distinguished Chair of Emergency Medicine to honor Dr. Hamedani’s legacy and impact on the department. Prior to returning to Wisconsin, Dr. Hamedani was faculty at Harvard Medical School and completed a hospital administrative fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital, with a focus on quality management. Her expanding lists of interests range from patient flow, quality management, and health care finance reform to disruptive innovation in health care to effective leadership in times of uncertainty.

Kelly McQueen is the Ralph M Waters Distinguished Chair and Professor of Anesthesiology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. As global researcher, Dr. McQueen focuses on improving infrastructure and studying outcomes in low and middle-income countries.  She recently started the Global Academic Anesthesia Consortium, a US academic department collaborative that is committed to supporting residency training and education, service and research development in Lusaka, Zambia. Dr. McQueen was the founder and the Inaugural President of the Alliance for Surgery and Anesthesia Presence, a collective member society of the International Surgical Society.  Kelly was also the Founder and President of The Global Surgical Consortium, a public charity committed to improving safe anesthesia and surgery in low-income countries. Dr. McQueen has also served as the President of the Arizona Society of Anesthesiologists, and the Chair of the American Society of Anesthesiologists Committee on Global Humanitarian Outreach.

Elizabeth M. Petty, MD, (she/they), senior associate dean of academic affairs, medical director of the genetic counselor training program, co-director for the AMA SMPH LGBTQ+ health fellowship, and professor of pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health (UW-SMPH), oversees multiple health professional degree programs and helps guides the academic missions of GME, CME, global health, and learner diversity programs at UW-SMPH. She received a B.A. in art history and human biology at Clarke University, Dubuque, Iowa, completed her medical degree UW-SMPH and pediatric residency training at UW Health, and conducted clinical and molecular genetics postdoctoral training at Yale University. As an ACMGG board certified geneticist, she cares for people with genetic conditions. Prior to joining the faculty at UW-SMPH, Dr. Petty was a professor of internal medicine and human genetics at the University of Michigan Medical School where she served in multiple leadership roles and supported learning in classrooms, clinics, communities, and research settings.

Vanessa Sperandio is the Chair of the Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology in the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Robert Turell Professor. She was the Jane and Bud Smith Distinguished Chair in Medicine, & Professor in the departments of Microbiology and Biochemistry at UT Southwestern Medical Center. She got her bachelors in biology, and her masters and PhD in Molecular Genetics in the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP) in Brazil. She was a Latin American Pew Fellow in Biomedical Sciences (1997), an Ellison Foundation New Scholar (2004), a Burroughs Wellcome Fund Investigator in the Pathogenesis of Infectious Diseases (2006), and a National Academy Kavli Frontiers of Science Fellow (since 2007). She is the recipient of the ASM 2015 Eli Lilly and Company-Elanco Research award, and a winner of the 2014 GSK Discovery Fast-track challenge. In 2013 she was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology (AAM) and is the Chair of the Board of Governors of the AAM.