Leadership

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Resources and Suggested Reading

Some recommended books are below. You can obtain them at the links below or your favourite book retailer.

Five must-read books for women leaders
Harvard business review suggested reading for women leaders
Hardball for women
Women don’t ask: Negotiation and the gender divide
Little bets: How breakthrough ideas emerge from small discoveries
Between Grit and Grace
Crucial conversations: Tools for talking when stakes are high
7 Habits of highly effective people
The One Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results
18 Minutes
Finding your flow
The Gifts of Imperfection

Leadership seminars

Upcoming sessions

Please join iWiMS for a unique training session by the Coro Women in Leadership Team hosted on 8 July 2021
12 noon PST
4pm Buenos Aires
8pm Lonon
9pm Central European Time
5am Australian Eastern Standard Time 9th July

Click here for the link to the session.

This session will cover Prioritization and Managing Urgency

This session exposes opportunities to more effectively prioritize responsibilities. With a goal of operating in a space of important and non-urgent tasks, participants will reflect on where they spend most of their time and will discuss strategies to move away from constant urgency and towards expanded capacity.

To learn more about Coro Women in Leadership, please visit their site


To learn more about the Coro Women in Leadership Program that they offer, seperate to their training session for iWiMS, there will also be an informational seminar hosted by Coro on 22 June 2021 at 4pm PST. More information below.

The Coro Women in Leadership Program (WIL) brings together a cohort of mid-career women of diverse backgrounds from the private, nonprofit, and government sectors for intensive leadership development seminars, civic issue exploration through a gender lens and post-fellowship networking. Running across five, two-day sessions WIL focuses on enhancing leadership abilities, deepening professional networks, building strategic relationships, peer coaching, developing professional narratives, and enhancing participants’ ability to affect positive change at work, at home, and in their communities.  To learn more and apply, please visit www.corola.org/wil. Applications are due August 1st, 2021.

We hope you can join us for this exciting opportunity.

Previous sessions

Thursday 22nd October/Friday 23rd October 2020

Women in the time of COVID: Opportunities and Challenges

Previous sessions

Thursday 22nd October/Friday 23rd October

Advocacy:  The Patient – Clinician – Researcher Continuum:  How Can We Help Each Other? We were joined by:
Pamela Valentine – President and CEO of the MS Society of Canada
Cyndi Zagieboylo – President and CEO of the National MS Society.

Cyndi Zagieboylo became president and CEO of the National MS Society in 2011. Her Society career started in 1985 and she has worked with every CEO of the organization including founder, Sylvia Lawry.  Ensuring people affected by MS can live their best lives while providing leadership on a global basis to reach a world free of MS is her life’s work.  

Cyndi serves on the Society’s National Board of Directors and on the MS International Federation Board of Directors. She is a founding member and executive committee chair of the International Progressive MS Alliance which was launched in 2013.  The Alliance expedites the development of therapies for progressive MS and currently includes membership from 18 countries and 6 industry partners.  

She is passionate about building the MS movement, amplifying the voices of people affected by MS to influence lawmakers, and ensuring people affected by MS know that they have a supportive partner in their life journeys through a nationwide MS Navigator service. 

Cyndi received her bachelor’s degree in rehabilitation counseling and psychology from Springfield College, followed by a master’s degree in social psychology from the University of Connecticut.   


Pam is a strong advocate for policy and system changes that improve the lives of people affected by neurological conditions and is passionate about creating awareness of challenges faced by persons living with disabilities. With an appetite for community involvement, she currently serves as a board of trustee member for the MS International Federation; an executive committee member of the International Progressive MS Alliance; an executive committee member of Patient Reported Outcomes Initiative for MS (PROMS); a member of the Canada Post Accessibility Advisory Panel; a member of the Strategic Advisory Committee, Ontario Strategy for Patient Oriented Research (SPOR) Support Unit; a scientific advisory board member for SPOR Evidence Alliance; a member of CIHR Institute Advisory Board for Health Services & Policy Research; and a member of the Health Charities Coalition of Canada. 

Dr Maria Rivas, Chief Medical Officer, Merck KGaA.

The Power of reinvention: taking on new career risks, roles, or directions

Thursday June 4 2020

Maria Rivas, MD, is Chief Medical Officer, heading both Global Medical Affairs and Global Evidence Value Development at the biopharmaceutical business of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany. Dr. Rivas and her team are responsible for bridging between Merck KGaA’s R&D innovation and the commercialization of promising products to positively impact the lives of patients. In her role as Chief Medical Officer at Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, Dr. Rivas reports to the Head of Global R&D and serves as a member of the R&D Executive Leadership Team.

Dr Orly Avitzur, President Elect of the American Academy of Neurology.

Multiple sclerosis in the mist of a pandemic: what has changed?

Wednesday 18 March 2020

Following our conversation, Dr Orly Avitzur (MD, MBA, FAAN) President-Elect of the AAN has written on the disruptions to clinical practice and research as a result of COVID-19, and experiences of clinicians and scientists working in our field. Find the article in Neurology Today.

More information on Dr Avitzur can be found here

Additional external resources

AAN leadership program can be found here