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. 2024 Jul 1;7(7):e2420570.
doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.20570.

Gender Differences in the Path to Medical School Deanship

Maya S Iyer  1   2 , Carol Bradford  3 , Amy S Gottlieb  4   5 , David B Kling Jr  2 , Reshma Jagsi  6 , Christina Mangurian  7   8 , Lilly Marks  9 , Carolyn C Meltzer  10 , Barbara Overholser  11 , Julie K Silver  12 , David P Way  1 , Nancy D Spector  11   13
Affiliations

Gender Differences in the Path to Medical School Deanship

Maya S Iyer et al. JAMA Netw Open. .

Erratum in

  • Error in Author Affiliations.
    [No authors listed] [No authors listed] JAMA Netw Open. 2024 Aug 1;7(8):e2431056. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.31056. JAMA Netw Open. 2024. PMID: 39102270 Free PMC article. No abstract available.

Abstract

Importance: Women account for only 28% of current US medical school deans. Studying the differences between women and men in their preparation to becoming deans might help to explain this discrepancy.

Objective: To identify differences in the leadership development experiences between women and men in their ascent to the medical school deanship.

Design, setting, and participants: In this qualitative study, volunteers from the roster of the Association of American Medical Colleges Council of Deans were solicited and interviewed from June 15 to November 9, 2023. Women deans were recruited first, then men who had been appointed to their deanships at a similar time to their women counterparts were recruited. Deans were interviewed on topics related to number of applications for deanships, prior leadership roles, leadership development, personal factors, and career trajectories. Interviews were coded, and themes were extracted through conventional content analysis.

Main outcome and measures: Career and leadership development experiences were elicited using a semistructured interview guide.

Results: We interviewed 17 women and 17 men deans, representing 25.8% (34 of 132) of the total population of US medical school deans. Most deans (23 [67.6%]) practiced a medicine-based specialty or subspecialty. No statistically significant differences were found between women and men with regard to years to attain deanship (mean [SD], 2.7 [3.4] vs 3.7 [3.7] years), years as a dean (mean [SD], 5.7 [5.2] vs 6.0 [5.0] years), highest salary during career (mean [SD], $525 769 [$199 936] vs $416 923 [$195 848]), or medical school rankings (mean [SD], 315.5 [394.5] vs 480.5 [448.9]). Their reports indicated substantive gender differences in their paths to becoming a dean. Compared with men, women deans reported having to work harder to advance, while receiving less support and opportunities for leadership positions by their own institutions. Subsequently, women sought leadership development from external programs. Women deans also experienced gender bias when working with search firms.

Conclusions and relevance: This qualitative study of US medical school deans found that compared with men, women needed to be more proactive, had to participate in external leadership development programs, and had to confront biases during the search process. For rising women leaders, this lack of support had consequences, such as burnout and attrition, potentially affecting the makeup of future generations of medical school deans. Institutional initiatives centering on leadership development of women is needed to mitigate the gender biases and barriers faced by aspiring women leaders.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest Disclosures: Dr Iyer reported receiving honoraria from the American Board of Pediatrics for serving on the Pediatric Emergency Medicine Sub Board outside the submitted work. Dr Jagsi reported receiving grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Komen Foundation, the American Cancer Society, and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation; personal fees from the NIH, the Greenwall Foundation, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Kleinbard LLC, Hawks Quindel Law, and Physicians’ Education Resource; and stock options from Equity Quotient for service as an advisor outside the submitted work. Dr Mangurian reported receiving grants from the NIH, the US Department of Defense, the Doris Duke Charitable Foudnation, the California Healthcare Foundation, United Health Group, and the National Science Foundation outside the submitted work. Dr Silver reported receiving a grant to the institution from the Binational Scientific Foundation Culinary outside the submitted work; and being a venture partner at Third Culture Capital and serving as an advisor to Simplifed. Dr Spector reported being a co-founder of and holding equity interest in the I-PASS Patient Safety Institute during the conduct of the study. No other disclosures were reported.

Figures

Figure.
Figure.. Population of US Medical School Deans Based on 2023 Association of American Medical Colleges Council of Deans List
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

References

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