Women in U.S. Academic Medicine Statistics 2000-2001

by Janet Bickel, Associate Vice President Medical Schools Affairs; Valarie Clark, Associate Director, Women's Programs; and Renee Marshall Lawson, Administrative Assistant

Applicants and Students | Residents | Medical School Faculty | Data from Benchmarking Survey for 2000

In addition to data from traditional AAMC sources, this year's compendium includes 4 tables of benchmarking data from 94% of U.S. medical schools.

Applicants and Students

As Table 1 (PDF or Excel) shows, in 2000-2001, women constituted 46.5% of applicants and 45.8% new entrants to U.S. medical schools.As Table 1 shows, in 1999-2000, women constituted slightly over 45% of both applicants and new entrants to U.S. medical schools.

Table 2 (PDF or Excel) prepares applicant acceptance data from 1974 through 2000. Between 1996 and 2000, the number of men applying declined 26%, compared to a 14% decline in the number of women.

In 2000-2001, women made up more than 50% of new entrants at 31 schools (see Medical School Admission Requirements, 2002-2003, Table 5a).

Residents

The proportion of women in residency programs has grown to 38% in 2000 (Table 3) (PDF or Excel). Obstetrics/gynecology (70%) continued to pull ahead of pediatrics (65%) as the specialty with the highest proportion of women residents. The proportion of women in most of the surgical subspecialties increased slightly from 1999, e.g., urology (from 11.8% to 12.3%); and orthopedic surgery (7.8% to 8.1%).

Over one-quarter (28%) of women residents were training in internal medicine (including subspecialties). The next highest concentrations continue to be: 16% in pediatrics (including subspecialties), 13% in family practice, 9% in obstetrics/gynecology, and 7% in psychiatry (include subspecialty). These proportions have remained very stable in recent years.

Medical School Faculty

The most recent AAMC Faculty Roster System data appear in Table 4 (PDF or Excel) and Figures 1 (PDF or Powerpoint) and 2 (PDF or Powerpoint). The percent of women faculty in 2001 is 28% (the same as in 2000). The departments with the lowest proportion of faculty who are women continue to be orthopedic surgery (11%) and surgery (13%)-and the highest, pediatrics (42%) (Table 4).

Table 4 (PDF or Excel) also shows the proportion of women associate and full professors in each specialty. The total number of women full professors rose from 2664 last year to 2903, which still represents only 12% of professors. The basic sciences tend to have higher proportions of women full professors than clinical specialties. The clinical specialties with the highest proportions are public health (23%), pediatrics (19%), family medicine (18%) and physical medicine (18%). At the associate professor rank, the proportion of women rose from 23% last year to 24%.

Figure 1 (PDF or Powerpoint) displays the proportions of men and women faculty by rank. The proportion of all women faculty at the full professor rank has finally reached 11%. For men, this proportion has remained very stable at 30.9%. Thus on average there are 23 women full professors per medical school, including non-tenured and basic sciences faculty, compared to 166 men at that rank.

Figure 2 (PDF or Powerpoint) shows the distribution of faculty by terminal degree: 59% of women and 65% of men faculty are M.D.s, with an additional 4% and 8%, respectively, who are M.D.-Ph.D.s. A higher proportion of women than men lack a doctorate. Table 5 displays the ethnic breakdown of women faculty: 73% are white, 11.6% asian, and 4.4% black.

Data from Benchmarking Survey for 2000

Under the aegis of AAMC's Project Implementation Committee on Increasing Women's Leadership, for the fourth year AAMC collected additional data from schools. As of September 2001, 94% (118) schools returned the benchmarking survey.

To assist each school in comparing itself to other responding schools, national averages appear at the beginning and end of most of the tables. Following are a few highlights:

Benchmarking Table 1 (PDF or Excel): Faculty Rank and Tenure

The percent of tenured faculty who are women held at 15% (same as 1998). The percent of women who are tenured dropped from 17% to 16%. The percent of men tenured held at 33%.

Benchmarking Table 2 (PDF or Excel): New Hires and Promotions

The percentage of new faculty hires who are women averaged 36%. · The percent of women among those newly granted tenure (all ranks) in 2000 was 23%; 25 schools had no women among the newly tenured. · The percent of women among those promoted from assistant to associate professor was 31% and among those promoted from associate to full professor, 23%. But 23 schools had no women among those promoted to full professor.

Benchmarking Table 3 (PDF or Excel): Departures of Women and Men Faculty

The percentage of faculty departures who are women averaged 30%. On average, 18 women left each responding school, representing 8% of women faculty, the same percentage as departing men faculty.

Benchmarking Table 4 (PDF or Excel): Women in Decanal Positions

The number of women assistant, associate, and senior associate deans rose from 454 in 1999 to 477 in 2000. There are 3 schools with no women in any decanal position.

As of 9/1/01, 8 of the 125 U.S. medical school deans are women (3 of these are interim): Dr. Anne Jobe, Mercer; Dr. Deborah Powell, University of Kansas School of Medicine; Dr. Patricia Monteleone, St. Louis University School of Medicine; Dr. Amira Gohara, Medical College of Ohio; Dr. Anna Cherrie Epps, Meharry Medical College School of Medicine; Dr. Betty Wray (Interim), Medical College of Georgia School of Medicine; Dr. Helen Rosa (Interim), Universidad Central Del Caribe and Dr. Nancy Dickey (Interim),Texas A&M University Health Science Center College of Medicine.

Benchmarking Table 5 (PDF or Excel): Women Division Chief and Department Chairs

Women department chairs number about 206 (about 8% of all department chairs). There are at least 21 schools with no women department chairs.

Under the category of "associate chair and vice-chair" 145 women were reported (19% of the total).

Benchmarking Table 6 (PDF or Excel): Women on Search Committees

The 96 schools responding to this question averaged 3.2 search committees in 2000; women made up 25% of committee members. Women chaired 13% of these committees.

Note to Women Liaison Officers & Other School Representatives

AAMC's Women in Medicine Coordinating Committee and Increasing Women's Leadership Committee intend for medical schools to make wide use of this data, educating others about women's representation within the institution and comparing their standings with other institutions.This site features a link to Microsoft PowerPoint files displaying national averages from the benchmarking tables, onto which schools may insert their own data. Please forward any suggestions for improvements or any errors discovered to Renee Marshall Lawson at (202) 828-0521; rmlawson@aamc.org.

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