Celebrating 10 Years of the Women Neurologists Group: Achievements and Milestones

WATCH TIME: 7 minutes | Captions are auto-generated and may contain errors.

The 4th Annual Women in Neurology Conference, held October 24–26, 2025, at the Cheyenne Mountain Resort in Colorado Springs, is weekend event where women neurologists can gather for connection, growth, and relaxation, both professionally and personally. Hosted by the Women Neurologists Group (WNG), this conference is designed to empower women in all stages of their neurology careers, from residency to retirement. The meeting offers a combination of expert-led educational sessions, wellness experiences, and opportunities to connect with colleagues.

In collaboration with the WNG, NeurologyLive^® held a Roundtable discussion with 2 of the conference’s program co-chairs, Jill M. Farmer, DO, MPH, and Kathrin LaFaver, MD, FAAN, DipABLM, who work in treating patients with movement disorders. Throughout the Roundtable, Farmer, owner and founder at Boro Neurology, and LaFaver, neurologist in the Department of Neurology at Saratoga Hospital Medical Group, discuss the mission of WNG and provide an overview of this year’s program for the 4th Annual Women in Neurology Conference.

In this third episode, movement disorder experts Farmer and LaFaver highlighted WNG’s milestones over 10 years, including insightful research on gender equity, burnout, and pandemic-related challenges, as well as publications on salary disparities. Beyond research, the 2 women neurologists noted that the group has provided networking, mentorship, and career transition support, helping members connect both online and offline. The duo emphasized that the group’s efforts have fostered a collaborative, empowering environment that continues to support women neurologists and inspire future generations.

Isabella Ciccone, MPH: Could you highlight some accomplishments and milestones achieved from the WNG?

Jill M. Farmer, DO, MPH: I actually didn't even realize you were celebrating our 10th anniversary because I'm so part of the group and involved in it—you don't really take a step back and think, "Oh my goodness, that much time has passed." You also don't want to think you're getting that much older, but you are. When I realized that, it's something that LaFaver and I are incredibly proud of. We're speaking here as the face of the conference, but we have other admins who work with us—some that are still part of the admin team, others that have since dropped off but are still available to help when needed.

Some of the things we've been able to do with our reach and our wealth of varied subspecialties and experience in the group is we've published—people like to run through surveys, particularly about equity in the workplace and gender bias. During COVID, there were questions about telecommuting and telehealth and how that impacted women physicians and what they were juggling and balancing.

I think that's phenomenal—something that started as an opportunity for people to get their own questions answered then grew to become something collective, where you got to see what you were similarly experiencing. Then, being the academics, scientists, and Type A personalities we are, we were like, "Well, let's try and do something about this if everybody is experiencing it."

I'm so impressed that we've been able to put data out into the world that can be used and referenced when helping make the argument for better opportunities or highlighting things that need to be changed in the medical culture and workplace for women. I'm incredibly proud of this conference. As I said, it was something that I really became involved in as an admin, more than just a participant in the group. I took an active role with the first conference to help gain funding for it, plan the agenda, and find the location. It was a wonderful opportunity. It helped me network with people in industry as well as with other people in neurology. So again, this Facebook social group has been a stepping point and a jumping-off point for some changes in careers as well.

We say we're like "The Little Engine That Could"—the little group that could. We're a little bit of a force, but we don't take ourselves too seriously, which is why I like that. There's a momentum of good without being too full of ourselves.

Kathrin LaFaver, MD, FAAN, DipABLM: I can only second that, and I wanted to add that Amy Hessler, DO, one of the initial admins, is still an admin who is not on our call today. She and I actually connected at one of the annual meetings 10 years ago, around the time when the initial burnout surveys came out that Neil A. Busis, MD was spearheading. We just had a conversation about how the data wasn't broken up by gender, and we were wondering if burnout would affect women and men differently. That actually led us to propose a subanalysis of the data to Busis, specifically looking at women, which we ultimately published.

As Jill mentioned, we've also published on responses to the pandemic. One of our members has published a paper on salary discrepancies in pediatric neurologists. It has really been a vehicle for people to connect—not just on Facebook and social media, but also offline—and sometimes take it to academic publications and new career opportunities. Several members have been helped in career transitions, for example, moving from clinical medicine to industry. There are many connections that have been made and career changes supported by the group, which are really great achievements we can look at.

We're obviously hoping to continue this trajectory and help invite new, younger members into the group to have access to similar opportunities. As disappointing as it is, there are still many challenges that women in our field face that are often overlooked. Facebook is a very active forum for our group—people ask questions, sometimes clinical questions about experiences with new medications, for example. But a lot of times, people ask personal questions, such as experiencing microaggressions. For example, someone just posted last week: "Gosh, I get asked every single day, 'Where are you from?'" You have to wonder if it has to do with being a young woman, a person of color, or something else. It can be extremely validating when other people contribute their experiences and share ways of approaching situations like that.

As a group, it’s a bigger force to help brainstorm how we can change things so that future generations are not experiencing the same issues and maybe have better ways of dealing with them. That's just one example. What we all experience privately is often shared, which is very empowering. Not everyone needs to reinvent the wheel every single time; tapping into this collective experience helps us navigate our careers and our lives.