Meet the all-female colorectal surgery team at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA)

The number of women seeking careers as physicians is on the rise. In fact, in 2019, women comprised the majority of enrolled U.S. medical students for the first time in history. While the total number of women in the physician workforce is on the rise, there are still fields in which women represent a small minority of practitioners. For example, according to the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons, only 28% of colon and rectal surgeons in the U.S. are female.

At Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA), a leading cancer treatment center in the Northwest, an all-female colorectal surgery team is defying industry statistics. Drs. Mukta Krane, Michelle Cowan, Joy Chen and Sarah Atkinson, who lead surgical treatment for colorectal cancer at SCCA, believe their team represents a move toward more diversity in medicine – and underscores opportunities to improve patient care.

“I feel I’m in a place that’s constantly seeking to diversify the members of our community and is looking out for not just the patients, but also the staff and the culture that is nurtured here,” said Dr. Chen.

Dr. Cowan added, “Having an all-female surgical team really reflects the changing landscape in both medicine and surgery specifically. The fact that we’re all females is just icing on the cake and hopefully allows us to be role models to those coming after us who want to be surgeons as well.”

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