Women Making Slow Progress in Appointments as Deans of Medical Schools

A new article published in the August issue of Academic Medicine, finds that of the 534 appointments of medical schools deans from 1980 through 2006, only 38, or 7 percent, were women. In the most recent period, 2000 to 2006, 15 percent of all new medical school deans were women. These percentage of women in dean positions is far below the percentage of women medical school faculty and students.

The study also found that “on average, women deans — most with deanships at less research-intensive medical schools — obtained their initial doctorates from similarly less research-intensive schools, held more business-related advanced degrees beyond the original doctorate, took longer to be promoted to full professor, and had shorter tenures than did their men counterparts.”

The full study may be downloaded here.