Reader response
Myron Yaster MD
The Women’s Empowerment and Leadership Initiative (WELI) is one of the most important and successful initiatives ever launched by the Society for Pediatric Anesthesia. It is dedicated to assisting pediatric anesthesiologists with gaining skills, knowledge, confidence, and opportunities to achieve their career goals. A key component of this mission is to connect protégés with an advisor. The advisors have a history of mentoring and personal career success, and they offer guidance tailored to each protégé’s area of interest. Advisors may draw on advising, mentoring, and coaching approaches. WELI also fosters collaboration and connection through group discussions and networking to facilitate professional advancement and build a sense of belonging. Additionally, advisors and protégés join in-person and virtual workshops led by executive coaches and content experts throughout the year.
One of the leaders and founding members of WELI I (MY) is Dr. Jenny Lee-Summers. I received the following announcement from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and wanted to share it with all of you.
To school of medicine faculty
Dear Colleagues,
I am pleased to announce that Jennifer Lee-Summers, professor of anesthesiology and critical care medicine and pediatrics, has been named senior associate dean for faculty development in the Office of Faculty, effective Nov. 3, 2025. In this role, Dr. Lee-Summers will partner with school of medicine leaders to coordinate and leverage faculty resources, design timely leadership and career development offerings, and evaluate initiatives to ensure they meet faculty needs while demonstrating tangible impact.
As part of this transition, Dr. Lee-Summers’ current role as senior associate dean for women in science and medicine will be consolidated into her new role in faculty development. Although the school will no longer have a separate dean focused on our women faculty, we remain deeply committed to supporting the professional growth, advancement and development of all faculty members.
Dr. Lee-Summers has demonstrated exceptional leadership, in-depth expertise and clear impact in the realm of faculty development — qualities that make her an outstanding fit for this position. Under her leadership she successfully relaunched and expanded our signature faculty leadership cohort programs with updated and strengthened curricula, making these available to faculty of all genders. Additionally, she introduced multiple career development webinars and seminars and group coaching opportunities.
In addition to her dean role, Dr. Lee-Summers serves as director of professional development for the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, and as an executive leadership and professional development coach for the school of medicine. She previously led a translational research laboratory with 17 years of continuous extramural funding, including independent NIH support, and has mentored numerous trainees who have built successful academic careers.
Please join me in congratulating Dr. Lee-Summers on her appointmen
Maria Oliva-Hemker, M.D., Vice Dean for Faculty, Mary Wallace Stanton Professor for Faculty Affairs
From Rebecca Lee, MD, Mount Sinai Hospital, NY on the leak test
I love this PAAD. I was taught the leak test listening at the neck with the pop off valve closed and watching the pressure gauge rise. When I started practicing, I noticed my ETCO2 waveform would look abnormal signaling a leak even before the machine alarmed. That’s when I started looking at inspired TV and expired TV and adding air as needed. This came in handy especially when this occurred with smaller patients fully draped with changes in surgical maneuvers, position etc. I have been teaching this to my residents and doing this for more than a decade. It was never something I was taught but I’m glad this article and your commentary supports my practice. Finally, in addition to tidal volumes I watch the ETCO2 waveform when adding air which tells me when the leak is “gone” or too small to be an issue. Especially when I’m in locations where our machines aren’t as modern (ie MRI)