Sunday 8th March 2020
Karen Booth - My mother is my biggest role model in my life. She has provided me with the safest and most supportive environment to achieve all that I want to achieve for as long as I can remember.
Betsy Evans - My mother was the strongest mentor I had when I was starting my career too.
Karen Booth - My mum was raised in an era where she was not allowed to have a career. She gave up university to care for my grandmother who was dying at a young age from complications of rheumatoid arthritis. Throughout my life she has pushed me to have independence and a career. I have never heard her say, ‘how can you do that? She still continues to say ‘what can I do to help?’. She taught me all my core values that I still hold true as a doctor today.
Betsy Evans - Professionally though, not many women. I have had mostly male mentors in the cardiac surgical specialty for a variety of reasons. I was appointed a consultant in cardiac surgery in December 2011, I was the 7th female cardiac surgical consultant working in the UK and Ireland at that time - currently in 2020 we are at 14 out of around 300. So things are getting better, but there is still some way to go.