MUSC's ARROW program aims to reduce gender disparities and support the career advancement of women in science and medicine.

Women are still underrepresented at the higher faculty ranks and gender bias continues to permeate most academic institutions. To promote gender equity at MUSC and address the leaky pipeline, the institution launched the Advancement, Recruitment, and Retention of Women (ARROW) program. 

The goal of the ARROW program is to reduce gender disparities and support the career advancement of women in science and medicine.  This is accomplished using different strategies facilitated through financial support from the Provost and the College of Medicine. The ARROW program offers awards that include the a) John R Raymond fellowship, which provides an opportunity to women at MUSC to work with an external mentor on career development, b) Advancement of Women award, which is given annually to a man or woman who advances the careers of women at MUSC, and c) Eminent scholar award, given to a prominent woman scholar who is invited to MUSC to give a presentation, meets with faculty and trainees, and serves as a role model.

"ARROW has grown over the past couple of years to include programs for post-doctoral fellows, residents and clinical fellows."

-- Carol Feghali-Bostwick, Ph.D.

The ARROW program also offers an external grant review program intended to strengthen grant applications prior to agency submission by providing an NIH-style review of grant applications by an external expert. More recently, and to address the challenges faced by women during the pandemic, ARROW launched a manuscript editing service to facilitate completion and submission of manuscripts. In addition, ARROW hosted a presentation on “Remote Work and Leading Virtual Teams”. The successes and accomplishments of women are also highlighted on the MUSC ARROW website.

The ARROW program offers a series of workshops on topics relevant for career development, such as “The importance of saying no and how to say it”, “Mentor vs Sponsor”, “Time management”, “Negotiation Skills” and others. An upcoming presentation in April 2021 will address gender harassment and is open to all.

ARROW organizes a yearly intensive career development program for women and men faculty modeled after the AAMC program which is designed to promote leadership skills and prepare faculty for promotion and/or tenure. ARROW also offers opportunities for networking through the Diversity and Ethnic Relations Committee (DERC) quarterly coffee hour and the Menten clubs organized by rank. ARROW has grown over the past couple of years to include programs for post-doctoral fellows, residents and clinical fellows.

The success of the program would not be feasible without all the women and men who generously give of their time to support the careers of others. The various ARROW activities are planned by committees of faculty and trainees who contribute to the success of the program and facilitated by a program coordinator.

In summary, the ARROW program offers a variety of resources and programs to effect change with respect to gender disparities and to increase the representation of women by providing the resources and tools to retain women and support their success.