UPMC Enterprises is strengthened by the knowledge, experience, and compassion of the physicians we work with. In honor of National Women Physicians Day and International Day of Women and Girls in Science – both celebrated annually in February – we highlight a few of the talented female physicians who work closely with Enterprises. The unique perspectives of female physicians enhance our organization and the field of health care.
Jennifer Berliner, MD, MBA
Cardiology
UPMC Heart and Vascular Institute
What inspired you to become a physician?
I know this sounds cliché, but I always knew I would be a physician. I was always drawn to the sciences and really wanted to help people. My grandmother suffered a heart attack when I was young. She had heart failure because of this, which influenced my early interest in becoming a cardiologist. Cardiology is a great field because there are many non-invasive and invasive treatments available to treat and improve the lives of our patients.
What excites you about your work with UPMC Enterprises?
I began working at UPMC Enterprises to learn more about opportunities to apply innovative digital strategies to the practice of medicine. What excites me the most about my work here is that it affords me the opportunity to use my clinical experience to develop novel digital strategies that improve the quality of care we deliver to our patients. It’s an exciting time in medicine to be able to couple clinical experience with innovation to create novel programs to improve the quality of care we deliver to patients.
What’s on the horizon in your field?
In addition to improvements in medication and technological devices, there is an enormous opportunity to both improve the care that we provide to patients as well as the patient experience by creating an infrastructure to deliver continuous care to treat patients with chronic diseases in between visits with their health care providers. The goal is to develop programs to improve overall health, optimize outpatient care, reduce emergency department visits, and prevent hospitalizations.
Nicole Donnellan, MD
Obstetrics and Gynecology; Minimally Invasive Gyn Surgeon
UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital, Gynecologic Specialties
What inspired you to become a physician?
I initially wanted to become a physician because of my love for biology. I was inspired to pursue women’s health because of the health issues my mother faced when I was a teenager. Additionally, the bedside element of working closely with patients was huge in my decision to go into surgery rather than research. The ability to immediately care for an individual is what made the difference for me.
What advice do you have for other physicians branching from clinical work?
Taking care of patients is extremely rewarding, but the variation helps you to be a better doctor and provide better care. Working with cutting edge groups like UPMC Enterprises continues to be exciting. The ability to help solve different problems to advance women’s health is what keeps me going.
What’s on the horizon in your field?
One of the biggest challenges in women’s health today is finding noninvasive tests and screenings for endometriosis and chronic pelvic pain; to offer quicker and less aggressive interventions. A life goal I have for myself would be to put myself out of a job – to be able to treat these issues without the need for surgery.
Elena Lands, MD
Obstetrics and Gynecology
UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital
What inspired you to become a physician?
I have always loved people and science – I even double majored in neuroscience and theatre studies. As a student, I hoped that medicine would present the intellectual and emotional challenges I have come to love in both theatre and the sciences. I found that as a doctor I can be a scientist, counselor, comforter, teacher, student, and advocate – all roles I love to play. I can’t imagine anything more rewarding than a lifelong pursuit of knowledge and interpersonal relationships.
What excites you about your work with UPMC Enterprises?
I love the opportunity to shed light on how various devices or therapies could fit into our current practice. The Enterprises team is a group of brilliant, diligent, and kind innovators who share my passion for advancing women’s health, and truly care about the downstream effects of their work.
What advice do you have for other physicians branching from clinical work?
While nothing is more fulfilling for me than taking care of patients, advising the UPMC Enterprises team requires a different type of creativity and allows me to help many patients at once. I love the opportunity to shed light on how various devices or therapies could fit into our current practice. Women’s health – specifically pregnancy care – is decades behind other fields in medicine; I’m proud that my work can help push things forward to close that gap.
Adele Towers, MD
Geriatric Medicine
UPMC Senior Care
What excites you about your work at UPMC Enterprises?
I appreciate that Enterprises engages clinician expertise from the beginning stages of problem-solving in health care. For example, we utilize the living laboratory at UPMC where nurses and physicians can research and try out new technologies as we work to create better solutions for our patients. I am not aware of any other health system in the country that has been as successful as UPMC in creating solutions for clinical problems.
What advice do you have for other physicians branching from clinical work?
I would encourage other physicians that if they see a challenge or clinical care, to seek out people who can solve the problems – it’s incredibly rewarding. Sometimes amid all of the challenges in health care, you feel like you don’t get to appreciate the larger picture reward. But if you can work with a group of people to implement a real solution to the problems we face, you really feel the accomplishment.
What’s on the horizon in your field?
As a geriatrician, I am looking ahead to the growing aging population. We need to have technology to assists us not only in the care we provide, but also the testing, diagnosis, and payment support for patients. We have a large aging population that we have to care for, but with limited funds and resources. We need to invest in technology to best support the care our aging population needs.
