When the Personal was Political is the first social history of the post-feminist generation of women doctors, told through the story of five women who met in the freshman class of UCSF medical school in 1973, formed a study group for mutual support, and maintained their friendships for thirty years, weathering motherhood and managed care. Feminism opened the door, and they walked through, clueless but committed. They were a unique group, sandwiched between the individual women pioneers of previous decades who were proud to "think like men" and the women students of today who take access to professional school for granted. The pioneers were the scouts in the male-dominated profession; this generation was the landing party. The book raises the question, "What does it mean to be a 'woman doctor' if 'a doctor' is a man?" Despite the greater numbers of women in medicine today, women medical students still face choices (pediatrics or surgery?) where gender matters. Dr. Martin's thoughtful analysis combines an insider perspective and a lively writing style.
Toni Martin is a general internist and writer. She grew up in Chicago and Washington, D.C., and graduated from Harvard College (AB Geology) and the University of California at San Francisco Medical School. After a residency in Internal Medicine at the UCSF Hospitals, she entered private practice in Oakland, CA. A board certified internist with additional qualifications in Geriatrics, she has practiced in a variety of settings over the last thirty years, including Kaiser Oakland, where she was the physician chief of Health Education. Currently, she serves at the Social Security Administration as a medical consultant for Region 9 and practices at the Berkeley Primary Care Clinic. She has taught at UCSF as a clinical professor.
Her first book, How to Survive Medical School, was published after her residency. Her essays have appeared in East Bay newspapers, Hippocrates, Health Affairs, The Threepenny Review and ZYZZYVA. Her second book, When the Personal was Political:Five Women Doctors Look Back, was published in 2008. She and her husband, a gastroenterologist, were classmates at Harvard and UCSF. They have three children and live in Berkeley, CA.
