Dr. Julia Haller leaves distinguished legacy as Women in Medicine Legacy Foundation president

When Dr. Julia Haller took the reins as president of the Women in Medicine Legacy Foundation (the Foundation) in 2016, she saw an opportunity to influence the future while learning from the past. 

Above all, she wanted to honor the mentors and colleagues who helped her along a distinguished career path that includes becoming the first female chief resident at Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins, and ophthalmologist-in-chief at Wills Eye Hospital.

“I thought the mission was very much aligned with my own goals and the integrity of the group was impressive. I knew I would have good-wing women supporting me. And I owed it. I’m so grateful for the mentors and opportunities I’ve had, and I wanted to pay back and pay forward,” she says.

Among the highlights of her presidency are the honors bestowed on the recipients of the Alma Dea Morani (ADM) Award, the Foundation’s highest recognition. Among the winners are Jennifer Doudna, PhD, Nobel Prize-winning co-inventor of CRISPR gene-editing technology; and Margaret Hamburg, MD, former FDA commissioner who now chairs the Board of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Dr. Haller will be succeeded by Dr. Danielle Laraque-Arena, MD, President Emerita of SUNY Upstate, NYAM Scholar-in-Residence, who chaired the Alma Dea Morani selection committee and is a nationally recognized pediatrician and expert in child safety and advocate for social justice.

“The ADM winners are the most remarkable people in science, true pioneers, and glass ceiling crackers. That they were honored to be recognized by the Foundation speaks volumes for the organization,” Dr. Haller says.

As the Foundation approaches its 25th anniversary, she says the Foundation is a rich, robust, and supportive resource for ascendant women in science and medicine, who have grown in number but still lag behind in status and influence.

“I wish young women could look forward to an unfettered future where they can soar. But that golden path is not a reality. Women are still not equitably represented in the upper echelons of academia; they are still underrepresented in leadership roles in medicine,” she says. 

In a time of sweeping political and legal change, women’s voices in health care are more important than ever.

“Historically, women have taken the lead in public health. Today, when the courts take away from reproductive rights, and turn a blind eye to gun violence and climate change, it encroaches on the role of physicians to do their best for patients,” she says. “Policies need to be created that are based in history and facts to improve medicine as a whole. We all need to be striving, every day, to make the world a better place.”

An internationally renowned retina surgeon-scientist, Dr. Haller has worked to advance the Foundation’s vision to create a “hub of knowledge,” a single resource directory empowering scholars, historians, public health advocates, and biographers to tap into a repository of research on women in science and medicine at prestigious medical school and institutional libraries.

Dr. Haller also supported the Foundation’s initiative to record oral histories of trailblazing women physicians.

“That personal connection, those direct, first-person accounts are essential to capture, and are much more high-impact than a biography that might be written 50 years from now,” she says. “We can take renewed courage and dedication from the words of these inspiring pioneers.”

Dr. Haller has served the Foundation tirelessly for the past six years and was an inspiration to fellow volunteers and staff members.

“Julia’s extraordinary leadership and commitment to the Foundation has left a lasting footprint, and her vision to connect the legacies of pioneering women leaders of the past to the next generation of women leaders in science and medicine will lead us into the future” said Vicki Burkhart, Foundation Executive Director. “As we head into our 25th Anniversary year, we are forever grateful for the innovative programs and initiatives Julia has created on behalf of women in medicine and the medical sciences. 

Join us in commemorating Julia Haller’s leadership to the Foundation with a gift.