I Look Like A Surgeon

Artwork created by Andrea Gahl,
UW Department of Surgery Trauma nurse coordinator Harborview Medical Center

​I have worked as a nurse for the past 28 years, the last 19 with surgeons in an academic medical center.  This series started out as one painting of a friend I work with, a surgical resident at the time.  I was thinking about visual representation, and how it shapes our perception of the world around us, how we see ourselves, how we perceive the people around us. 
Walking down the hallways of most medical schools, looking at those who are honored with portraits in auditoriums and hospital wings, one would assume that all or nearly all physician leaders are white men.

The title “ACS Future” references the American College of Surgeons, the largest professional scientific and educational association of surgeons.  While it is diversifying, it remains a white male dominated organization. As a major professional organization, it is a large umbrella that not every surgeon fits under, yet these young surgeons are the future of the College. 
Given the glacial pace that diversity and gender issues are addressed, I chose to create my own portraits to hopefully promote positive role models for the kids in my life and change perceptions of what a physician looks like.   I imagine a more inclusive portrait collection in our hospital hallways, one enriched by a more diverse representation of physicians.  I also wanted to honor the residents I work with so they too can see themselves one day being one of the venerated surgeons on those walls

I was thinking about the children in my life and how it must feel not being able to see yourself in those faces, how that may affect what seems possible for you.  I also was thinking about the news stories about airline employees not believing a Black woman was a doctor during a medical emergency, or the need for the “ILookLikeASurgeon” hashtag.  I was considering all the times my surgical residents told me stories of being mistaken for nurses or housekeeping after having operated and rounded on a patient for days.  Or the innumerable racist and sexist “jokes” they put up with from patients and colleagues alike.  Or how the only two Black female surgical residents in the program were constantly being mistaken for each other, hence the title of one piece, “Not Estell”. 

To see these and other artwork created by Andrea Gahl visit her website https://www.andreagahl.com/