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Women in U.S. Academic Medicine Statistics 2002-2003

by Valarie Clark, Director, Faculty Development; Hisashi Yamagata, Senior Research Associate Division of Medical School Services and Studies; and Winston Chapman, Administrative Assistant

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. To facilitate such presentations, Microsoft Powerpoint slides are available displaying the national averages from the benchmarking tables. Please forward any suggestions for improvements or any errors discovered to Winston Chapman at (202) 828-0521; wchapman@aamc.org.

Applicants and Students | Residents | Medical School Faculty | School-Identified Data for 2002

Five tables and two figures summarize frequently requested national statistics on women's representation in academic medicine. School-identified data appear in the subsequent four benchmarking tables. For the first time, AAMC Faculty Roster System served as the data source for these benchmarking tables (except for the numbers of division chiefs).

Applicants and Students

As Table 1 (PDF or Excel) shows, in 2002-2003, women constituted 49% of applicants and 49% new entrants to U.S. medical schools. Nearly 47% of the total enrollment of medical shools were women..

Table 2 (PDF or Excel) compares men and women applicants' acceptance data from 1974-1975 through 2002-2003. Last year, 17,069 men and 16,556 women applied for medical schools and approximately 9,000 men and 8,600 women were accepted. Between 1997-1998 and 2002-2003, the number of men applying to medical school declined by 27%, compared to a 9% decline in women.

Table Title	Files Types Available:
Table 1: Women Applicants, Enrollees & Graduates--Selected Years, 1949-1950 Through 2002-2003	PDF - 10KB	Excel
Table 2: Comparative Acceptance Data for Men and Women Applicants 1974-1975 Through 2002-2003	PDF - 9KB	Excel
Table 3: Distribution of Women Residents, 2002	PDF - 11KB	Excel
Table 4: Women Full-time Faculty by Department, 2003	PDF - 7KB	Excel
Table 5: Race/Ethnicity of Women Faculty in U.S. Medical Schools 2003	PDF - 5KB	Excel

Residents

The proportion of women in residency programs has grown to 38% in 2001 (Table 3) (PDF or Excel). Obstetrics/gynecology (71%) continued to pull ahead of pediatrics (67%) as the specialty with the highest proportion of women residents. The proportion of women in most of the surgical subspecialties is increasing slowly, e.g., general surgery (25%) urology (14%), and orthopedic surgery (9%).

Looking at their distribution across specialties, over one-quarter (28%) of women residents are 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

Table 4 (PDF or Excel) also shows the proportion of women associate and full professors in each department. While the total number of women full professors rose from 3,039 last year to 3,194, their proportion of the total remained at the same level as last year - 13%. With regard to full professors who are also tenured, there are 1,837 women, that is 12% of 15,185 tenured professors (not shown).

Table 5 (PDF or Excel) displays the ethnic breakdown of women faculty: 74% are White, 13% Asian, and 5% African-American.

Table:	File Types Available:
Figure 1: Medical School Faculty by Rank and Tenure	PDF - 8KB	Excel
Figure 2: Full-Time Medical School Faculty by Degree and Gender	PDF - 6KB	Excel

Figure 1 (PDF or Excel) displays the proportions of men and women faculty by rank. The proportion of all women faculty at the full professor rank is 11%; 30% of men are full professors. On average there are 26 women full professors per medical school, including non-tenured and basic sciences faculty, compared to 171 men at that rank.

Figure 2 (PDF or Excel) shows the distribution of faculty by terminal degree: 60% of women and 65% of men faculty are M.D.s, with an additional 4% of women and 8% of men holding an M.D., Ph.D., or other health doctorates.

As of 10/1/03, 10 of the 126 U.S. medical school deans are women: Dr. Barbara Atkinson, University of Kansas School of Medicine; Dr. Betty Drees, University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine; Dr. PonJola Coney, Meharry Medical College; Dr. Amira Gohara, Medical College of Ohio; Dr. Anne Jobe, Mercer University School of Medicine; Dr. Patricia Monteleone, St. Louis University School of Medicine; Dr. Lois Nora, Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine; Dr. Deborah Powell, University of Minnesota Medical School-Minneapolis; Dr. Cynda Johnson, The Brody School of Medicine at East Caroline University; and Dr. Margaret Paroski, University at Buffalo, State University of New York School of Medicine.

School-Identified Data for 2002

As noted above, this year AAMC Faculty Roster System provided data for the benchmarking tables, relieving dean's offices of completing an additional survey (questions concerning this data should be directed to Hisashi Yamagata, Senior Research Associate Division of Medical School Services and Studies at hyamagata@aamc.org).

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

Benchmarking Table 1 (PDF or Excel): Full-Time Women Faculty

Nationally 30% of faculty are women. The percent of tenured women faculty is 17%. The percent of tenured men faculty is 31%.

Table:	File Types Available:
Benchmarking Tables 1: Women Full-time Faculty by Rank and Tenure	PDF - 17KB	Excel
Benchmarking Tables 2: New Hires, Tenures, Promotions and Departures	PDF - 20KB	Excel
Benchmarking Tables 3: Women in Decanal Positions	PDF - 14KB	Excel
Benchmarking Tables 4: Division/Section Chiefs and Department Chairs	PDF - 11KB	Excel

The percentage of new women faculty hires averaged 36%. The percent of women among those newly granted tenure (all ranks) was 26%. The percent of women among those promoted from assistant to associate professor was 33% and among those promoted from associate to full professor, 23%.

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

The percentage of faculty departures who are women averaged 31%.

Benchmarking Table 3 (PDF or Excel): Women in Decanal Positions

Benchmarking Table 4 (PDF or Excel): Division / Section Chiefs and Department Chairs

At those schools supplying data for division chiefs, an average of 16% of chiefs were women in 2002.Women department chairs number about 251, that is about 10% of all department chairs (an increase from 10% last year). Eighteen schools have no women chairs.