TY - JOUR
T1 - Women in Academic Pathology
T2 - Pathways to Department Chair
AU - Lipscomb, Mary F.
AU - Bailey, David N.
AU - Howell, Lydia P.
AU - Johnson, Rebecca
AU - Joste, Nancy
AU - Leonard, Debra G.B.
AU - Markwood, Priscilla
AU - Pinn, Vivian W.
AU - Powell, Deborah
AU - Thornburg, Marie Ann
AU - Zander, Dani S.
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors thank all of the women chairs of pathology departments who took the time to complete the surveys upon which this article is based. The authors also thank APC staff, Mel Limson, PhD, and Madeleine Markwood in the final formatting of the survey for Survey Monkey and organizing the data for analysis and April Rodriquez at the University of New Mexico who helped provide access to some of the AAMC data. The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2021.
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - The Association of Pathology Chairs, an organization of American and Canadian academic pathology departments, has a record percent of women department chairs in its ranks (31%), although still not representative of the percent of women pathology faculty (43%). These women chairs were surveyed to determine what had impeded and what had facilitated their academic advancement before becoming chairs. The 2 most frequently identified impediments to their career advancement were heavy clinical loads and the lack of time, training, and/or funding to pursue research. Related to the second impediment, only one respondent became chair of a department which was in a top 25 National Institutes of Health–sponsored research medical school. Eighty-nine percent of respondents said that they had experienced gender bias during their careers in pathology, and 31% identified gender bias as an important impediment to advancement. The top facilitator of career advancement before becoming chairs was a supportive family. Strikingly, 98% of respondents have a spouse or partner, 75% have children, and 38% had children younger than 18 when becoming chairs. Additional top facilitators were opportunities to attend national meetings and opportunities to participate in leadership. Previous leadership experiences included directing a clinical service, a residency training program, and/or a medical student education program. These results suggest important ways to increase the success of women in academic pathology and increasing the percent of women department chairs, including supporting a family life and providing time, encouragement and resources for research, attending national meetings, and taking on departmental leadership positions.
AB - The Association of Pathology Chairs, an organization of American and Canadian academic pathology departments, has a record percent of women department chairs in its ranks (31%), although still not representative of the percent of women pathology faculty (43%). These women chairs were surveyed to determine what had impeded and what had facilitated their academic advancement before becoming chairs. The 2 most frequently identified impediments to their career advancement were heavy clinical loads and the lack of time, training, and/or funding to pursue research. Related to the second impediment, only one respondent became chair of a department which was in a top 25 National Institutes of Health–sponsored research medical school. Eighty-nine percent of respondents said that they had experienced gender bias during their careers in pathology, and 31% identified gender bias as an important impediment to advancement. The top facilitator of career advancement before becoming chairs was a supportive family. Strikingly, 98% of respondents have a spouse or partner, 75% have children, and 38% had children younger than 18 when becoming chairs. Additional top facilitators were opportunities to attend national meetings and opportunities to participate in leadership. Previous leadership experiences included directing a clinical service, a residency training program, and/or a medical student education program. These results suggest important ways to increase the success of women in academic pathology and increasing the percent of women department chairs, including supporting a family life and providing time, encouragement and resources for research, attending national meetings, and taking on departmental leadership positions.
KW - advancement in academic medicine
KW - gender bias
KW - gender diversity
KW - leadership development in academic medicine
KW - women pathology department chairs
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U2 - 10.1177/23742895211010322
DO - 10.1177/23742895211010322
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85105451942
VL - 8
JO - Academic Pathology
JF - Academic Pathology
SN - 2374-2895
ER -