The gender pay and leadership gap in anesthesiology

September 16, 2026
8 PM ET

Register 
 

This event is an Accredited Group Learning Activity (Section 1) as defined by the Maintenance of Certification program of The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and approved by the Canadian Anesthesiologists' Society. You may claim a maximum of 1 hour (credits are automatically calculated).

There are global and Canadian shortages of anesthesiologists. Despite the growing participation of women in medicine, gender-based inequities persist in pay, career and leadership opportunities.  Opportunities for all anesthesiologists to earn, to participate and to advance their careers contribute to a healthy workforce.  This webinar will explore the evidence for systemic gender disparities in pay, occupation and leadership in medicine and anesthesiology. Further, it will invite the listener to consider the extent to which gendered pay and leadership gaps may limit the recruitment, retention and full potential of women anesthesiologists. Please join us to experience a different perspective on anesthesiology workforce challenges. 

After participating in this webinar, participants will be able to:  

1. Delineate the participation of women in the anesthesia workforce in Ontario. 

2. Explain the potential sources and provide a quantitative estimate of the gendered pay gap in medicine and anesthesia.  

3. Describe the pattern of women’s enrolment in anesthesia residency programs and leadership in Canada. 
   
   Disclosure: CAS acknowledges that womanhood is an identity that belongs to many different people, including non-binary people and trans women. 
    

Presenter: Dr. Monica Olsen 
Owen Sound Hospital (Brightshores Health System)
 

Talk title: The Gender Pay and Leadership Gap in Anesthesiology 

Dr. Olsen completed her undergraduate education, medical school and residency in in Edmonton at the University of Alberta. Her extensive professional experience includes a mixed practice in large and small urban centers, several years of ICU, and regular locums in under-served/northern areas. Dr. Olsen is a Former Chair of the Ontario’s Anesthesiologists.  


Moderator: Dr. Lisa Isaac
SickKids/The Hospital for Sick Children

Dr. Isaac works as a pediatric anesthesiologist in the operating room, in the chronic pain clinic and on the transitional pain service at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto as the medical director. She began the first pediatric transitional pain service in North America twelve years ago to fill the gap between the in-patient acute pain service and the outpatient chronic pain service. In the transitional pain service, Dr. Isaac has led the development of transitional pain in the pediatric realm, researching, collaborating, and implementing a multidisciplinary clinic focused on opioid stewardship and the prevention of chronic pain. At the University of Toronto, Dr. Isaac is the director of equity, diversity and inclusion at the Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine at Temerty Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto. She has begun a Women in Academie forum, where she encourages people who identify as females to network and enhance their skills and collaboration in research and other academic endeavors with the goal of enhancing representation in research and academic anesthesiology. For her work in pain and in equity, Dr. Isaac was selected for the MayDay Pain and Society Fellowship in 2024.