ABOUT
Dr. Shannon Udovic Constant
Visionary Medical Leader & Fierce Advocate for the Advancement of Women in Medicine
CEO & Founder, Physician Women Rising
Physician. Advocate. Past President. Coach.
I'm a board-certified pediatrician who spent over 30 years in organized medicine — culminating in serving as the 5th woman President of the largest State Medical Association. I founded Physician Women Rising to help other women physicians do what took me 20 years to figure out: claim the leadership roles that medicine doesn't hand to us.
My Path Into Leadership
I earned my medical degree from the UC Berkeley/UCSF Joint Medical Program, where I learned to see medicine as the intersection of science and policy - both shape the health of our patients and communities. I completed my pediatric residency at the University of California, San Francisco, and in 2001 began my outpatient pediatric practice at The Permanente Medical Group, where I still see patients today.
Early in my career, the data in my own practice told a hard story: 30% of the children I cared for met the definition of childhood overweight. I wanted to change that trajectory.
Then I learned that a San Francisco public school in my community didn't have a single working drinking fountain. Kids couldn't drink water at school. I used my leadership connections in organized medicine to advocate for change — and helped pass legislation requiring state funding for potable drinking water in every California public school.
That was the moment everything shifted. I learned that leadership in organized medicine expanded my impact far beyond the walls of my exam room.
I never looked back.
I went on to serve as President of the San Francisco Marin Medical Society, joined the California Medical Association Board of Trustees, served as Vice Chair and then Chair of the Board, and in 2024 became the 5th woman in CMA's history to be elected President - representing more than 50,000 physicians across California.
Today, I help other women physicians take that same path: from clinician to leader, from one exam room to system-level impact.
Leadership Roles & Recognition
Organized Medicine — National
Governing Councilor, American Medical Association (Pacific West Delegation), current
Fellow, American Academy of Pediatrics
Organized Medicine — California
Immediate Past President, California Medical Association (2024–2025) — 5th woman elected President in CMA history
Trustee, California Medical Association, 2011–present
Chair, CMA Board of Trustees, 2020–2023
Vice Chair, CMA Board of Trustees, 2017–2020
Past President, San Francisco Marin Medical Society
The Permanente Medical Group (TPMG)
Board of Directors, 2011–2023
Chair, Governance Committee
Chair, Quality of Professional Life Committee
Co-Chair, CEO Search Committee, 2023
Awards & Recognition
Appreciation Award for Service as President, California Medical Association, 2025
Award for Extraordinary Contributions to the Profession of Medicine, San Francisco Marin Medical Society, 2025
Martin Gershman, MD Child Advocacy Award, American Academy of Pediatrics, California, 2013
Academic & Speaking
Clinical Professor, UCSF Department of Pediatrics
Opening Welcome Address, American Medical Women's Association (AMWA) National Meeting, 2026
Grand Rounds Speaker, UCSF and multiple TPMG facilities
Executive Education & Governance Training
Executive Leadership Program for Kaiser Permanente Executives, Harvard Business School, 2017
Director Professionalism Course, National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD), 2018
Why I Started Physician Women Rising
For two decades I watched extraordinarily capable women physicians get passed over. Talked over. Worn down by a system that wasn't built for us, then quietly told the problem was theirs.
I watched them blame themselves for what was, in fact, structural. I'm not ready. I don't have the right experience. Maybe next cycle.
I had said those same things to myself. And I had been wrong every time.
I learned, sometimes the hard way, how to navigate organized medicine. How to step into a leadership role before I felt ready. How to take credit for the work I had done. How to walk into a room of men who didn't expect me there and lead it anyway.
When I became the 5th woman president in the California Medical Association's 160+ year history, the math hit me. Five. In more than a century and a half. Not because qualified women weren't there. Because the path to leadership was never built with us in mind, and no one was teaching us how to walk it anyway.
I founded Physician Women Rising to teach what medicine never taught us: how to claim our leadership seat.
This work is not about confidence-building or "stepping into your power." Highly qualified women physicians do not need to be repaired. They need strategy. They need permission. They need the playbook the traditional pipeline has been running quietly for generations, finally handed to women who have been outperforming them all along.
When women physicians lead, our patients get better care. Our profession gets stronger advocates. Health policy gets sharper. The stakes are not just personal. They are systemic.
You are not the problem. The system is. And we are going to rise anyway.
Speaking & Media
I speak to physician audiences, medical societies, hospital systems, and women's leadership organizations on the art and science of women's leadership in medicine, how to seize leadership positions, physician advocacy, and the future of organized medicine.
RECENT APPEARANCES:
PODCASTS:
You Are Not Too F**ing Old* with Jen Marples — On women in leadership and how to seize leadership positions. January 2025.
If you want to learn more about me and my program I was a just a guest on the incredible Jen Marples Show podcast “You are not too f***ing old” where we talk about women in leadership and I shared my top tips and tools on how to seize leadership positions. It is a really juicy conversation and you can listen here:
Apple Podcast
Spotify
Youtube
Value Health Voices — Physician Advocacy in California: How CMA Fights Back with Dr. Shannon Udovic-Constant. December 2025.
Physician Advocacy in California: How the CMA Fights Back with Dr. Shannon Udovic-Constant - December 15, 2025
Transistor
Spotify
Youtube
PRINT:
Reflections from My Year as President of the California Medical Association — San Francisco Marin Medicine, the journal of the San Francisco Marin Medical Society. Read the article:
Click here to read the article ↓
SPEAKING:
Opening Welcome Address, American Medical Women's Association (AMWA) National Meeting, 2026
Grand Rounds Speaker, UCSF and multiple TPMG facilities
NEWSLETTER:
Physician Women Rising, a Substack on leadership, advocacy, and the structural realities women physicians navigate
BOOKING:
For speaking inquiries, keynotes, podcast appearances, and panel invitations. Book Shannon to Speak:
Education & Training
Medical Education
MD, UC Berkeley/UCSF Joint Medical Program
MS, Health and Medical Sciences, UC Berkeley
Pediatric Residency, University of California, San Francisco
Board Certification
Diplomate, American Board of Pediatrics
Executive Education & Governance
Executive Leadership Program for Kaiser Permanente Executives, Harvard Business
School, 2017
Director Professionalism Course, National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD),
2018
Academic Appointment
Clinical Professor, UCSF Department of Pediatrics
Ready to Claim Your Leadership Seat?
If you've spent years doing everything right and still being passed over, you don't need another self-help book or a confidence workshop. You need strategy, mentorship, and the playbook medicine never taught us.
I work with women physicians who are ready to stop waiting and start leading.
START HERE:
Free Workshop:
You Are Not the Problem: The Workshop That Gives Women Physicians the Leadership Roadmap Medicine Never Taught You. The fastest way to see how I teach and whether PWR is the right fit.
1:1 Coaching:
Discovery calls are open for women physicians ready to map a strategic path to their next leadership role.
Stay Close:
Read Physician Women Rising on Substack — Strategic leadership insights for women physicians who are done waiting to be chosen. Real frameworks. Honest stories. Actionable coaching to seize leadership.