Skip to main content

Preferential Promotion of White Men Persisting in Academic Medicine

Medically reviewed by Carmen Pope, BPharm. Last updated on Dec 4, 2024.

By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, Dec. 3, 2024 -- Preferential promotion of White men within academic medicine is persisting, with racially and ethnically diverse women experiencing greater underpromotion, according to a study published online Nov. 27 in JAMA Network Open.

Lauren Clark, from the University of Kansas School of Medicine in Kansas City, and colleagues examined whether race and ethnicity and gender are associated with appointment to or promotion within academic medicine in a cohort study. The analytic sample included 673,573 graduates from U.S. M.D.-granting medical schools.

The researchers found that compared with White men, Asian men, Asian women, Black women, and White women were more likely to be appointed to entry-level positions. Compared with physicians of nearly every other combination of gender and race and ethnicity, White men were more likely to be promoted to upper ranks among physicians graduating before and after 2000. Compared with White men, Black women were less likely to be promoted to associate professor and full professor among physicians graduating prior to 2000 (hazard ratios, 0.45 and 0.59, respectively). Conversely, compared with White men, Black men were more likely to be appointed department chair (hazard ratio, 1.29).

"To achieve a workforce that reflects the diversity of the U.S. population, academic medicine must transform its culture and the practices that surround faculty appointments and promotions," the authors write.

Abstract/Full Text

Editorial

Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.

© 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Read this next

High-Volume Exercise Tied to Increased Coronary Artery Calcification Score

WEDNESDAY, May 28, 2025 -- Male athletes with high-volume exercise training have a higher burden of calcified plaque than male nonathletes, according to a review published in the...

Odds of Cardiovascular Events Up for RSV Hospitalization Versus COVID-19 Hospitalization

WEDNESDAY, May 28, 2025 -- Patients with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) hospitalization have increased odds of any acute cardiovascular event compared with COVID-19...

Sedentary Behavior in U.S. Adults Declined in Last Decade

WEDNESDAY, May 28, 2025 -- Sedentary behavior among U.S. adults fell between 2013 and 2020 but plateaued after that, according to a research letter published online May 21 in...

More news resources

Subscribe to our newsletter

Whatever your topic of interest, subscribe to our newsletters to get the best of Drugs.com in your inbox.