Abstract
Background: Numerous studies have reported existing disparities in academic medicine. The purpose
of this study was to assess racial and gender disparity in academic emergency medicine
(EM) faculty positions across the United States from 2007 to 2018. Objective: The primary objective was to identify the racial and ethnic and gender distributions
across academic ranks in EM. The secondary objective was to describe the racial and
gender proportions across different tenure tracks and degrees. Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis using data from the Association of American
Medical Colleges. Simple descriptive statistics and time series analysis were employed
to assess the trends and relationship between race and gender across academic rank,
type of degree, and tenure status. Results: When averaged, 75% of all faculty members were White physicians and 67.5% were male.
Asian faculty members showed an increased representation in the lower academic ranks
and underrepresented minority groups demonstrated a small increase. Asian faculty
members demonstrated a significantly increasing trend at the level of instructor (t = 0.02; p = 0.034; 95% CI 0.05–1.03). Female faculty members showed a significantly decreasing
trend over the study period (t = –0.01; p < 0.001; 95% CI 0.68–0.75). White academic physicians and male faculty members made
up most of all degree types and tenure categories. Conclusions: Despite an increase in proportional representation, the underrepresentation of female
faculty members and those from minority groups persists in emergency medicine. Further
studies are needed to identify and address the root causes of these differences.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: July 18, 2022
Accepted:
July 9,
2022
Received in revised form:
June 3,
2022
Received:
October 6,
2021
Identification
Copyright
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