Advancing Women in Medicine: WIM Summit™ & Women in Medicine® Nonprofit Programs
Dr. Shikha Jain founded Women in Medicine (WIM)®, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, to advance women in healthcare through mentorship, leadership development, advocacy, and community building. She serves as Founder and Board Chair. WIM has grown to nearly 7,000 members nationally and is built around a straightforward premise: the barriers women face in medicine are structural, not individual, and solving them requires changing systems rather than asking women to adapt to them.
WIM’s flagship event is the Women in Medicine Summit™, an annual gathering of clinicians, health system leaders, researchers, and advocates working on the challenges and opportunities facing women in medicine. Through keynotes, panels, and interactive workshops, the Summit has become a national convening point for networking, collaboration, and education. The 8th Annual Summit takes place September 24 to 26 at The Drake in Chicago.
WIM’s impact extends well beyond the Summit through year-round programming designed for every career stage. The organization runs medical student mentorship and sponsorship, trainee development, leadership programming, a Speakers Bureau, the WIMbassadors program, and Student NextGen. In September 2026, WIM launched the WIM Fellowship (the WIM Coalition and Accelerator Network), a 12-month leadership program with parallel Physician Leader and Healthcare Leader cohorts, led by Founding Faculty Director Laurie Baedke. WIM also offers allyship training for leaders seeking to build more inclusive teams, along with resources for women navigating career transitions, negotiation, and professional development.
Advocacy is central to the work. WIM partners with institutions, health systems, and national organizations to advance policies that support gender equity in healthcare. Dr. Jain also founded National Women in Medicine Day under the nonprofit, now observed annually on September 17. WIM collaborates with academic partners on research examining gender disparities in medicine and on grant-funded work testing evidence-based interventions, so that its programming is grounded in measurable outcomes rather than good intentions.
The goal is to change the culture of medicine itself, making it more inclusive, supportive, and sustainable for everyone practicing in it. Members who participate in WIM’s initiatives are contributing to a movement that advances women in medicine and, in doing so, strengthens the quality of care patients receive.
Learn more about the nonprofit’s initiatives and how to get involved by visiting Women in Medicine®.