It is with immense pride and excitement that I invite you to our two-day international gathering of the Dutch Association of Women Doctors for the Medical Women’s International Association (MWIA) on June 5th and 6th 2026 in the Netherlands. Our theme ‘transgenerational resilience’ is both timeless and applicable to the challenges we face in this 21th century. To register go to https://www.vnva.nl/mwia-congress-region-northern-europe/
Transgenerational resilience is not merely a title — it is a living truth. We stand in the footprints of the women who were told medicine was not theirs to practice, who earned their degrees in secret, who were passed over for professorships, who carried clinical excellence and household responsibilities in the same pair of hands. Resilience of women doctors is embedded in our professional DNA. We did not arrive here from nowhere. Multifactorial causes, including intergenerational traumas, discrimination then and now within educational and healthcare systems have been overcome and the use of post traumatic growth potential has overcome barriers.
During this conference resilience will be addressed by diverse experts who are healthcare professionals, independent organizational consultants, and also award-winning pioneers such as those who fight the tobacco industry to advocate public health of the youth. It will be a conference in which all minorities will be represented and empowered. A representative from the Ministry of Education will address the conference on the necessity to transform a toxic culture within the healthcare system.
Dr Wanda de Kanter will receive the Els Borst Oeuvre Price for her outstanding work as a pulmonologist, for the empowerment of women doctors and for her advocacy for public health against the tobacco industry.
We are looking forward to meeting our MWIA sisters!
Fig 1. Board members: dr Samar Orwar, dr Marieke Visser, Sabina Bagga-Kumar, dr Geneviève Koolhaas-Martis, Joke Selhorst-Heije, dr Geneviève Nivallac-Hernández