Celebrating the Legacy of Anne Taylor

By Laura Nicholas, Photos by Sirin Samman

After nearly 18 remarkable years at Columbia, Anne Taylor, MD, the John Lindenbaum Professor of Medicine at CUMC, vice dean for academic affairs at VP&S, and senior vice president for faculty affairs and career development at CUMC, announced that she will be retiring at the end of June.

Dr. Taylor has made widespread and long-lasting contributions to advancing the support and development of VP&S faculty. Under Dr. Taylor’s leadership, the Office of Academic Affairs was launched to support faculty and researchers across CUIMC. In addition to the CUIMC Office of Faculty Affairs and the International Students and Scholars Office at CUIMC, three additional units were created: the CUIMC Office of Faculty Professional Development and Engagement; the CUIMC Office of Professionalism; and the Office of Conflict of Interest on Education, Clinical Care, and Administration.

Dr. Taylor and her team at the CUIMC Office of Faculty Professional Development and Engagement created a new framework to identify domains of faculty life that determine faculty satisfaction, vitality, and success. This allowed the development of support programs for each specific domain. Examples of these determinants included structure and transparency of organizational governance, support for work-life integration, opportunities for career growth and advancement, and organizational climate. This framework allowed the Office to consider and respond to the specific needs of all faculty members, and also those of faculty subgroups defined by academic pathways, academic rank, identity groups, and specialties. In 2012, Dr. Taylor and a faculty committee composed of members from the four CUIMC schools worked to restructure the academic tracks framework to recognize the value of all faculty work and to provide clear pathways for faculty advancement. This included reorganization of the Committee on Appointments and Promotions to reflect the heterogeneity of faculty work and faculty demographics.

A champion of mentorship and sponsorship opportunities, Dr. Taylor worked with the Office of the Provost to create a best practice guide for faculty mentoring used across the University. Her office has worked with departments to enhance mentoring, increase the availability of services for work-life integration, and celebrate faculty accomplishments. This approach ensured that faculty could be recognized for the importance of their work as educators, clinicians, and researchers.

In 2012, she led a faculty committee that created the Virginia Kneeland Frantz Society (VKFS), which aims to serve, support, and celebrate careers of women in science and medicine at CUIMC. Through the VKFS, she worked with faculty to create a number of new initiatives that aimed to support the needs of women faculty in particular, but that benefit all faculty at CUIMC. These have included offering peer-mentoring and group coaching programs, providing sponsorship opportunities to attend external conferences, creating a first-in-class parental leave policy for faculty, developing guiding principles for the formation of key decision-making committees and faculty searches, tracking the progress of all faculty, and including faculty feedback at all levels to guide the work.

On March 26, her work was celebrated at the VKFS lecture “A Century of Women at VP&S: Historical Perspectives.” At the event, VKFS Steering Committee members presented Dr. Taylor with the VKFS Legacy of Excellence in Mentorship Award and announced that it will be renamed the Anne L. Taylor VKFS Legacy of Excellence in Mentorship Award.

James McKiernan’93, interim dean of VP&S, introduced Dr. Taylor at the event, remarking, “You’ve been an advocate, a confidante, a consultant, and a friend to pretty much everyone in this room and everyone at this medical school for over a decade, and we couldn’t be more honored to hear your thoughts on the last 100 years of women at VP&S.”

The process changes implemented by Dr. Taylor and her team were designed to support all faculty, but were especially impactful for women who have increased in both representation and inclusion in academic promotion, leadership, honors, and awards. Women now represent 50% of VP&S faculty, steadily increasing from 38% since 2006, and the percentages of women in each academic rank have steadily increased. When compared to nationally aggregated data, VP&S has greater proportions of women at every academic rank. Women also now hold more leadership positions, including as deans, department chairs, and division directors, and have greater representation on the elected VP&S Faculty Council.

During Dr. Taylor’s tenure, VP&S has earned numerous national awards for contributions to gender equity in medicine. Under her leadership, the Office of Academic Affairs was awarded a 2021 National Institutes of Health Prize for Enhancing Faculty Gender Diversity in Biomedical and Behavioral Science, as well as a grant, for which she was the principal investigator, from the Doris Duke Foundation and the American Heart Association to support early-career physician-scientist faculty burdened with excess caregiving responsibilities. Dr. Taylor also received the 2021 Group on Women in Medicine and Science Leadership Award for an Individual from the Association of American Medical Colleges.

“As an advocate for all faculty, she has promoted the recruitment, promotion, mentoring, and retention of faculty at VP&S, all the while acting as a role model who combines medicine and academic leadership,” said Anil K. Rustgi, MD, the Herbert and Florence Irving Director of the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center.

In addition to her wide achievements in faculty development, Dr. Taylor has been an active member of the Division of Cardiology in the Department of Medicine. She served as the attending cardiologist every week from 2008 to 2022 in the Thursday morning cardiology clinic. Dr. Taylor’s clinical research has focused on cardiovascular disease in underrepresented minorities and in women.

Daichi Shimbo, MD, was appointed to succeed Dr. Taylor as senior vice president and vice dean of faculty affairs for CUIMC and VP&S. Drs. Taylor and Shimbo have worked closely over the past few months to ensure a supportive and seamless transition in the role.

As Dr. Taylor looks ahead to her retirement, she’s also looking back at the community she’s helped to shape. “I’ve jumped around and had a lot of jobs, but this has been my favorite,” she said of her time at Columbia. “It’s a terrific community; it’s been a community that has participated, has been eager for change, it’s been supportive. The work done over these past 18 years could not have been done without the collaboration of a large number of faculty whose collective wisdom was critical and without the support of leadership at every level. I have also been blessed with a fabulous team who make it all happen. I can’t think of a better career!”