Making Rounds
How one young woman survived personal loss, sexism, and her own misogyny to become a trailblazer in academic medicine
In 1961, when Sharon Hostler enrolled in medical school, just 6 percent of physicians were women. Against these inauspicious odds, she succeeded not only in becoming a medical doctor—she rose to the very top of the medical profession.
Making Rounds is Hostler’s deeply personal reflection on a lifetime of remarkable experiences—from growing up in difficult circumstances in Vermont through the fascinating journey that ultimately brought her to the McLemore Birdsong Professorship of Pediatrics at the University of Virginia. Hostler vividly and honestly documents how she navigated professional opportunities, family responsibilities, personal loss and grief, and a sexist and elitist Southern medical culture. She offers unique insight into the social, political, and cultural factors that shaped UVA, Charlottesville, and academic medicine during the 1960s and 1970s. Enlivened by personal and professional insights into the ways that race, gender, and class shape people’s access to and experiences of health care, Hostler’s memoir will appeal to a wide variety of readers interested in the past, present, and future of women in medicine.
- John T. Casteen III, seventh president of the University of VirginiaSharon’s tale is a triumph song. It deserves to be read by anyone who cares about the making of great doctors for our time, and after.
- Suzanne Koven, MD, MFA, author of Letter to a Young Female PhysicianNow in her eighties, Dr. Hostler has endured many personal and professional trials: a painful childhood, young widowhood, sexism as she rose in the ranks of academic medicine, and the loss of pediatric patients to now-treatable diseases. Still, readers today will find her story both uplifting and relatable. Making the Rounds is engagingly written and full of warmth, humor, and inspiration.
- David B. Morris, author of The Culture of Pain‘I did not belong here.’ A cash-strapped Yankee intern arrives at a male-centered, flagship, southern university—where she ultimately emerges as a (powerhouse) dean. It is a tale of multiple transformations. Some changes belong to the social history of medicine, as Sharon Hostler helps rewrite the role of women in medical education and practice. Her richly detailed account, however, also creates a compelling and original memoir. Compassionate, clear-eyed, and incisive, she recounts moments that help shape her changing sense of self and help contribute to her new sense of belonging. The cast of characters ranges from her Vermont family—injured mother, Nellie, and athlete-absentee father, Hop—to neighbors, friends, colleagues, and (always) patients, from whom she learns and grows. It is a book infused with the feel of real life.
Sharon L. Hostler is former Vice Provost for Faculty Development and Emerita McLemore Birdsong Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Virginia.
