Gender Differences in the Path to Medical School Deanship.

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.

Why Are There So Few Women Medical School Deans? Debunking the Myth That Shorter Tenures Drive Disparities.

PURPOSE: Gender disparities among the senior echelons of academic medicine are striking and persistent. The role of medical school dean has been particularly immune to gender diversity, and limited prior research identified women's shorter decanal tenures as a potential driver. The authors assessed gender differences in tenure length of deanships in the current era to elucidate this finding. METHOD: From October 2020 to June 2021, the authors collected information about medical school deanships that were held from January 1, 2006, to June 30, 2020. All schools were members of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). The authors collected data from online public records and augmented their findings via direct outreach to medical schools. They used time-to-event analyses before and after adjustment for interim vs permanent status of the initial appointment, school ownership (public/private), and school size to assess for gender differences in length of deanship tenure during the study period. The unit of analysis was deanships, and the primary outcome was length of deanships measured in years. RESULTS: Authors included data on 528 deanships. Women held 91 (17%) of these terms. Men held the majority of permanent deanships (n = 352 [85%]). A greater percentage of the deanships held by women were interim only (n = 27 [30%]) compared with men (n = 85 [20%]). In unadjusted and adjusted analyses, there were no significant gender differences in length of deanship tenures. CONCLUSIONS: Analysis of appointments of AAMC-member medical school deans from 2006 to 2020 revealed that women have remained in their deanships as long as their male counterparts. The myth about women deans' shorter longevity should no longer be promulgated. Academic medicine should consider novel solutions to addressing women's persistent underrepresentation in the dean role, including employing the gender proportionality principle used in the business and legal communities.

Representation of Women Among Grand Rounds Speakers at an Academic Health System Early in the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Introduction An invitation to speak at grand rounds (GR) is considered an honor and an activity important for academic promotion. The aim of this study was to determine the representation of women among invited speakers at departmental GR and assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on it. Methods We conducted a retrospective descriptive study on gender differences in all GR speakers between January 2019 and June 2021 at an academic health system in Western Massachusetts. We calculated the overall percentage of women presenters and compared it with the percentage of women faculty at our institution and nationally. To evaluate the impact of COVID-19 on this association, we calculated the absolute percentage difference between women and men speakers using the date of March 13, 2020, as the cut-off and conducted a sensitivity analysis using June 15, 2020, as the cut-off. Results During the study period, 46% (276/607) of GR speakers at our institution were women. This percentage reflected the percentage of the women faculty overall at our institution and was similar to women's representation among faculty nationally. Departments with high percentages of women faculty (Obstetrics and Gynecology, 76%; Pediatrics, 65%) had high percentages of women GR speakers (Obstetrics and Gynecology, 70%; Pediatrics, 51%; Psychiatry, 62%). COVID-19 did not appear to significantly influence gender representation among speakers. Conclusion At our institution, less than half of the GR speakers were women. However, this percentage appears to reflect the overall percentage of women faculty. Potential barriers and opportunities resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic did not appear to impact this finding.

Closing the gender pay gap in emergency medicine: Paradigms to consider for leaders, faculty, and trainees.

The gender pay gap among physicians is a well documented and persistent problem and has a profound impact on earnings over a career lifetime. This paper describes examples of concrete initiatives three institutions took to identify and address gender pay gaps. Salary audits at two academic emergency departments highlight the importance of not only ensuring equity in salary among physicians of the same rank but also monitoring whether women are achieving equal representation at higher academic ranks and leadership, elements that typically contribute to compensation. These audits reveal how senior rank and formal leadership roles are significantly associated with salary disparities. A third school of medicine-wide initiative entailed conducting comprehensive salary audits followed by review and adjustment of faculty compensation to achieve pay equity. Graduating residents and fellows seeking first jobs out of training and faculty looking to be compensated equitably would benefit from understanding the elements that drive their compensation and advocating for frameworks that are understandable and transparent.

Expanding Access to Oral Preexposure Prophylaxis for People Who Inject Drugs in Bayelsa and Niger States, Nigeria.

INTRODUCTION: While oral preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is recommended for all individuals with substantial risk of acquiring HIV, people who inject drugs (PWID) have not been prioritized for oral PrEP services in most settings. The Meeting Targets and Maintaining Epidemic Control (EpiC) project implemented a comprehensive community-based program to increase access to and uptake of oral PrEP services among PWID in Bayelsa and Niger States, Nigeria. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION: EpiC established partnerships with community-based organizations working with the PWID community, identified hotspots (common locations for socialization and drug use), and engaged PWID in tailoring oral PrEP services. The HIV prevention package provided in hotspots and drop-in centers included HIV testing, oral PrEP, postexposure prophylaxis, sexually transmitted infection screening and management, condoms and lubricants, PWID-specific risk reduction counseling, and referrals to other support programs. At drop-in centers, paralegal and psychological services were also provided. Peer outreach workers led outreach efforts. All PWID who tested HIV negative were eligible for oral PrEP screening. National oral PrEP eligibility criteria included: no suspicion of acute HIV infection, absence of proteinuria, and willingness to use oral PrEP as prescribed. We used descriptive analysis of routine programmatic data to illustrate program outcomes. RESULTS: From January 2020 to September 2021, 13,286 HIV tests were completed for PWID. Of these, 12,111 (91.16%) had negative results. Among those testing negative, 8,190 (67.62%) were screened for oral PrEP eligibility, and 2,661 (32.49%) were eligible. A total of 2,659 PWID (100% [312/312] among eligible females; 99.91% [2,347/2,349] among eligible males) initiated oral PrEP. LESSONS LEARNED: Provision of oral PrEP services to PWID in Nigeria is feasible through a peer-led, differentiated, and holistic approach that addresses structural barriers among the PWID community. Greater efforts are needed to understand the needs and barriers to better tailor HIV services to reach females and other subpopulations in this community that are harder to reach.

Absent epiglottic inversion as seen on flexible endoscopic evaluations of swallowing (FEES) is associated with a gestalt reduction in swallowing mechanics.

PURPOSE: Epiglottic inversion, which provides one layer of the requisite protection of the airway during swallowing, is dependent on a number of biomechanical forces. The aim of this study was to examine the association between swallowing mechanics, as visualized during a Modified Barium Swallow (MBS) exam, and the rating of epiglottic inversion as seen on Flexible Endoscopic Evaluation of Swallowing (FEES). METHODS: This study analyzed twenty-five adult outpatients referred for a simultaneous FEES/MBS exams. Each participant swallowed a 5 mL thin liquid bolus, which was the bolus size analyzed for this study's question. Epiglottic inversion, as seen on FEES, was rated by three independent raters. Additionally, twelve swallowing landmarks tracked the shape change of each participant's swallow on the MBS video using a MatLab-specific tracking tool. Analyses were run to determine mean differences in swallowing shape change between the swallows across 3 groups: complete, reduced, and absent epiglottic inversion, as seen on FEES. Using a Computerized Analysis of Swallowing Mechanics (CASM), canonical variate analyses and discriminant function testing were carried out. Other swallowing mechanics were also analyzed for kinematic movements to isolate the function of the hyoid and larynx. A two-sample t-test was conducted to compare mean hyolaryngeal movement between complete and incomplete epiglottic inversion groups. RESULTS: Overall swallowing shape changes were statistically significantly different between the absent, reduced, and complete epiglottic inversion groups on FEES. Canonical variate analyses revealed a significant overall effect of shape change between the groups (eigenvalue = 2.46, p < 0.0001). However, no statistically significant differences were found on hyoid excursion (p = 0.37) and laryngeal elevation (p = 0.06) kinematic measurements between patients with complete and incomplete epiglottic inversion on FEES. CONCLUSION: Epiglottic inversion on FEES is a valuable rating that infers reduced range of motion of structures that cannot be seen on FEES. This small sample of patients suggests that FEES ratings of absent epiglottic inversion may represent gestalt reduction in swallowing mechanics.

Equal Pay for Equal Work in the Dean Suite: Addressing Occupational Gender Segregation and Compensation Inequities Among Medical School Leadership.

In 2022, the Association of American Medical Colleges published data from its annual Dean's Office Staff Compensation and Dean's Compensation Surveys in a new report addressing salary equity among medical school leadership. These data, disaggregated by gender and race/ethnicity, represent earnings of the senior most leaders in the dean suite and have historically been shared only with medical school Deans and principal business officers. The report shows that the highest-ranking decanal positions in U.S. medical schools are filled along the lines of traditional gender stereotypes (with men in clinical affairs and research affairs deanships and women in admissions, diversity affairs, faculty affairs, and student affairs deanships) and that the roles held mostly by men carry grander titles (e.g., senior associate dean vs assistant dean) and significantly higher salaries than those typically held by women. Additionally, within the same decanal positions, women earn lower median compensation than men. In this commentary, the authors describe limited advancement and lower compensation as foregone conclusions for women in medicine and science due to a professional model that places a premium on activities traditionally pursued by men. They define and characterize the impact of this occupational gender segregation in the dean suite and offer a roadmap for an alternative value system that recognizes complementary leadership activities across the mission areas of academic medicine and ensures that the contributions of women in the profession are appropriately recognized, valued, and rewarded.

A Timely Problem: Parental Leave During Medical Training.

Shifting demographics and concerns about burnout prevention merit a reexamination of existing structures and policies related to leaves of absence that may be necessary during medical training. In this Invited Commentary, the authors address the issue of parental leave for medical students and residents. Discussion about parental leave for these trainees is not new. Despite decades of dialogue, leave policies throughout the undergraduate and graduate medical education continuum lack standardization and are currently ill defined and inadequate. There are a number of barriers to implementation. These include stigma, financial concerns, workforce and duty hours challenges, and the historically rigid timeline for progression from one stage of medical training to the next. Potential solutions include parent-friendly curricular innovations, competency-based medical education, and provision of short-term disability insurance. Most important, adopting more flexible approaches to graduation requirements and specialty board examination eligibility must be addressed at the national level. The authors identify cultural and practical challenges to standardizing parental leave options across the medical education continuum and issue a call to action for implementing potential solutions.

Job Negotiations in Academic Medicine: Building a Competency-Based Roadmap for Residents and Fellows.

Negotiation skills are critical to career success, yet many physicians feel ill-equipped to negotiate for professional opportunities. Enhancing competencies in this arena may be especially critical for women and underrepresented minorities to reduce disparities in compensation and resources that begin upon entry into the workforce as junior faculty. This perspective offers a comprehensive overview of negotiation strategies and the job search process for individuals finishing medical training and seeking first-time employment. First, we extrapolate lessons from clinical medicine to provide a negotiation roadmap for residents and fellows. We use both a clinical and an employment scenario to illustrate the concept of principled negotiation in which negotiating partners elicit each other's values and interests and identify options for mutual gain. We then describe approaches to seeking and negotiating job opportunities and discuss typical timelines for these activities. We supply a list of professional needs to consider before a negotiation begins and introduce the concept of a best alternative to negotiated agreement to help ensure essential requirements are met in a final employment offer. Finally, we explore the utility of third-party assistance and published benchmarks and offer best practices for negotiating.

Rationale and Models for Career Advancement Sponsorship in Academic Medicine: The Time Is Here; the Time Is Now.

The business community has honed the concept of sponsorship and promulgated its utility for harnessing the talent of high-performing women and minorities whose contributions often go unrecognized within organizations. In recent years, academic medicine has begun to do the same. Whereas mentorship often centers on personal and professional development (e.g., skill building and goal setting), sponsorship focuses on enhancing the visibility, credibility, and professional networks of talented individuals. For upward career mobility, mentorship is limited in scope. Sponsorship, on the other hand, directly targets career advancement and is anchored in the sponsor's awareness of organizational structures and critical professional opportunities for junior faculty. Men are more likely to garner sponsors informally, and these sponsors tend to be male. Existing disparities between male and female medical faculty in achievement of academic rank and leadership roles, compensation, and research support suggest that high-performing women have a visibility gap. Such systemic inequity reflects a suboptimal business model that limits organizational potential. Formal sponsorship programs that match women with senior leaders facilitate access to beneficial relationships and institutionalize the value of equal opportunity. In this Perspective, the authors describe two successful sponsorship models that exist within academic medicine, the Society of General Internal Medicine's Career Advising Program and MD Anderson Cancer Center's Leaders' Sponsorship Program. They issue a call to action for much broader implementation of sponsorship programming to cultivate the advancement of all talented medical faculty and provide recommendations for such endeavors.

A precise measurement of the magnetic field in the corona of the black hole binary V404 Cygni.

Observations of binary stars containing an accreting black hole or neutron star often show x-ray emission extending to high energies (>10 kilo--electron volts), which is ascribed to an accretion disk corona of energetic particles akin to those seen in the solar corona. Despite their ubiquity, the physical conditions in accretion disk coronae remain poorly constrained. Using simultaneous infrared, optical, x-ray, and radio observations of the Galactic black hole system V404 Cygni, showing a rapid synchrotron cooling event in its 2015 outburst, we present a precise 461 ± 12 gauss magnetic field measurement in the corona. This measurement is substantially lower than previous estimates for such systems, providing constraints on physical models of accretion physics in black hole and neutron star binary systems.

Systematic Review of ED-based Intimate Partner Violence Intervention Research.

INTRODUCTION: Assessment reactivity may be a factor in the modest results of brief interventions for substance use in the emergency department (ED). The presence of assessment reactivity in studies of interventions for intimate partner violence (IPV) has not been studied. Our objectives were to identify ED IPV intervention studies and evaluate the presence of a consistently positive effect on the control groups. METHODS: We performed a systematic search of electronic databases for English=language intervention studies addressing IPV in the ED published since 1990. Study selection and assessment of methodologic quality were performed by two independent reviewers. Data extraction was performed by one reviewer and then independently checked for completeness and accuracy by a second reviewer. RESULTS: Of 3,620 unique manuscripts identified by database search, 667 underwent abstract review and 12 underwent full-text review. Only three met full eligibility criteria; data on the control arm were available for two studies. In these two studies, IPV-related outcomes improved for both the experimental and control condition. CONCLUSION: The paucity of controlled trials of IPV precluded a robust evaluation for assessment reactivity. This study highlighted a critical gap in ED research on IPV.

Reproductive coercion and co-occurring intimate partner violence in obstetrics and gynecology patients.

OBJECTIVE: Reproductive coercion is male behavior to control contraception and pregnancy outcomes of female partners. We examined the prevalence of reproductive coercion and co-occurring intimate partner violence among women presenting for routine care at a large, urban obstetrics and gynecology clinic. STUDY DESIGN: Women aged 18-44 years completed a self-administered, anonymous survey. Reproductive coercion was defined as a positive response to at least 1 of 14 questions derived from previously published studies. Women who experienced reproductive coercion were also assessed for intimate partner violence in the relationship where reproductive coercion occurred. RESULTS: Of 641 women who completed the survey, 16% reported reproductive coercion currently or in the past. Among women who experienced reproductive coercion, 32% reported that intimate partner violence occurred in the same relationship. Single women were more likely to experience reproductive coercion as well as co-occurring intimate partner violence. CONCLUSION: Reproductive coercion with co-occurring intimate partner violence is prevalent among women seeking general obstetrics and gynecology care. Health care providers should routinely assess reproductive-age women for reproductive coercion and intimate partner violence and tailor their family planning discussions and recommendations accordingly.