330. Does Your Physician's Gender Matter?

You Are Not Broken

Kelly Casperson, MD

Medicine, Health & Fitness

4.8 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 10 August 2025

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week I’m joined by Dr. Christopher Wallis, a urologist and researcher whose groundbreaking work shows something that might just change the way you think about surgery and medicine: patients are more likely to survive—and thrive—when operated on by a female surgeon and physician. We dive deep into the data, including studies across multiple countries and specialties, and unpack the consistent 5% reduction in 30-day mortality rates when the surgeon is a woman. Dr. Wallis also discusses how female anesthesiologists impact outcomes, why communication and trust matter so much in surgery, and how female physicians are often unfairly penalized for complications. This episode is more than stats—it’s about challenging the system, confronting bias, and empowering both patients and physicians to make more informed, conscious choices. If you’ve ever wondered whether gender matters in medicine, or how we can build a better, fairer healthcare system—don’t miss this one. We cover: ✔️ Why female surgeons lead to better outcomes ✔️ The role of bias and the “rigged” system women in medicine face ✔️ What patients should look for in a surgical team ✔️ Why systemic change is long overdue in healthcare Let’s get into it. DOI:10.1097/SLA.0000000000006217 http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj-2023-075484 https://uofturology.ca/directory/faculty/wallis-chris/ Want more honest, empowering conversations like this one?⁠⁠⁠Preorder my Next Book⁠⁠⁠ share this episode, and leave a review to help others find this important work. Let's stop leaving women out of the conversation—especially when it comes to sex, health, and healing. Listen to my Tedx Talk: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Why we need adult sex ed⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Take my Adult Sex Ed Master Class:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠My Website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Interested in my sexual health and hormone clinic? ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Waitlist is open⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Thanks to our sponsor ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Midi Women's Health⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Designed by midlife experts, delivered by experienced clinicians, covered by insurance.Midi is the first virtual care clinic made exclusively for women 40+. Evidence-based treatments. Personalized midlife care.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.joinmidi.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the You Are Not Broken podcast.
0:06.2	I'm your host, Dr. Kelly Casperson, a board-certified gerologist, thought leader, and conversation starter on midlife living, hormones, and sexuality.
0:16.4	Enjoy the show.
0:18.2	Hey, everybody, welcome back.
0:19.4	What if I told you that your chances of surviving surgery could depend, not on the hospital
0:24.0	or the technology, but on the sex of your surgeon?
0:26.9	It sounds unbelievable, but here's what the data says.
0:30.0	Patients are less likely to die when they're surgeons a woman.
0:33.0	And get this, one study showed 30-day mortality was 12% lower for patients treated by female surgeons.
0:38.9	Another study found that female patients treated by male surgeons had significantly worse outcomes,
0:44.4	including higher rates of death and complications. And what's even more shocking,
0:48.3	the research shows the same pattern with anesthesiologists. Female anesthesiologists are associated
0:53.1	with better patient outcomes too.
0:55.2	So what's going on here? Is this communication style, unconscious bias, training differences,
1:00.2	or something else entirely? So today we're digging into the data and the human stories behind it
1:04.7	with Dr. Christopher Wallace, the lead researcher behind these multiple landmark studies.
1:09.9	So get ready for a deep dive into what your
1:11.7	doctor's gender might be telling you and why it could save your life. Welcome to the podcast,
1:17.0	Dr. Wallace. Thanks so much for having me. You're a urologic oncologist and you practice in Toronto.
1:23.4	How did you get into outcomes based upon gender? Yeah, this is a great question.
1:28.3	So the first paper that we published, I was actually a resident when we worked on this project,
1:32.6	and it came a little bit by happenstance.
	...

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