International Women’s Day Spotlight: Rachael Sumka

My parents are both physicians (my father is a family doctor, and my mother is as pediatrician). My father is Chickasaw and Creek, and both of my parents worked for the Indian Health Service when I was growing up. We lived on two different reservations, and then in Tahlequah in the Cherokee Nation. My parents’ passion for their calling is very strong, and they instilled a service mindset in me – I never seriously considered doing anything else with my life.

I was drawn to MCN Health by the vast growth that the department has experienced in the past few years. I was familiar with the work that MCN was doing, and my patients were giving me glowing reports about the care they received at MCN facilities. At my interview, I particularly noticed the friendliness of the staff, and the open dialogue between the administrators and employees.

As CMO, the most important thing to me is creating a fair, well-functioning system that protects both patients and providers. Providers excel when given the supportive framework to do what they do best – provide excellent patient care.

Healthcare needs you! When she was little, my daughter didn’t think that men could even be doctors, because other than my father, all the doctors she knew were women. However, in my own career, most of my new patients assume that “Dr. Gilmore” is a man, simply because that was historically more common.  In recent years, the landscape of healthcare has shifted to more equal representation, but there are still plenty of male-dominated fields out there, and they need you.