Presenting

54 | GRAVITAS MAGAZINE GravitasMag.com arthritic gorilla and they asked him if he k new any GY Ns that might be interested in helping out. I said yes. You do routine reproductive exams on gals, k ind of check them and make sure ever y thing's okay. We started with the gorillas and evaluated a couple of orangutans and evaluated some of the chimps. e orangutans were actually the first ones to get pregnant and ever y thing seemed to be going great when she went into labor. She pushed for 36 hours and I said we've got to do something. We didn't k now if the baby was dead or alive, but it turned out that the baby was alive and she was fully dilated but she just couldn't get going. If they were in the wild, both mom and the baby would have died. How different is it delivering animal babies versus human babies? It's interesting to hear just the differences between the orangutans and the gorillas let alone what differences there might be between the gorillas and humans. Once you shave the belly and put the drapes on it looks remarkably similar. You have been very visible in the community. W here did the idea for the Annual Community Service Day grow? When I became the assistant vice president at USF, one of the things that I was look ing to do was find opportunities to help mentor the female faculty and expand their abilities for promotion. I happened to be reading in the paper that Hillsborough County Schools had started an all-girls and all-boys public middle schools. I thought this was a great opportunity to have our women faculty members come and do a community ser vice day at the all-girls school so that the young middle school girls could see that they could be a doctor or a nurse or different things in public health. We met with some people and put on our first career day. e faculty and students loved it. e next year, the administrators said the boy's school really needed mentors too. I called one of my male colleagues and asked if he was willing to oversee the program at the boys' school. He was a lile skeptical at first. I was like, just go check it out. He came back aer a couple of hours, and put on a pre y phenomenal day and I added to the girls school event. We brought in people in different police divisions and MacDill sent two female fighter pilots, a biotechnician, a chaplain and others. We brought in a variety of people from the community and let these k ids see the opportunities out there, especially with STEM subjects and geing girls interested in math and science and stick ing with it. How important is moving the medical school to downtown Tampa? e presence of the medical school downtown is going to bring in a vibrant crowd which is going to be able to support more restaurants, shops and boutiques. For our students and faculty, it could be so close to our permanent teaching hospital. I think it's going to help us really recruit and keep some of our brightest and best across Florida and throughout the countr y. W hat do you wish your legacy to be known for? I hope to accomplish, certainly in terms of my daughters, that they' ll look back and say Mom did what she loved and it made a difference in a number of people's lives. I hope people can say they got something they can really use from me to help them to further their career. Sometimes those are just lile tidbits and you don't even realize that somebody remembers years later. R ight now I'm the only female full professor in obstetrics and g ynecolog y, and currently we are below the national averages in terms of how many women we have in higher ranks. I'm one who has the ability to say that I made a difference in that and I am able to get people to realize that women can and should go for ward in career advancement. I have a platform to help elevate our voices and help support and encourage other women. D Register online @ Full 3.0 Conference $325.00 (SAVE $100 before 12/15) 2/17 Pre-Conference Workshop + Breakouts $175.00 (SAVE $75 before 12/15) Brought to you By: 2 0 1 6 C O N F E R E N C E FEBRUARY 18-19 2016 For more conference information and sponsorship opportunities visit 3-leaders.com or call 941-877-1599 The Manatee Performing Arts Center 503 3rd Ave, Bradenton, FL Meet leaders. Share methods. Change the world. 3-0-leaders2016.eventbrite.com Catherine Lynch Buckhorn interview continued om page 49

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