Researchers led by Julie K. Silver, M.D., an associate professor and associate chair in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Harvard Medical School, identified one major physician-focused medical society for each of 39 specialties. They collected data on presidential leadership attributed to men and women from 2008 to 2017, for at least five election cycles for each society. To determine whether presidential representation was equitable, the researchers compared the percentage of years that women were president for each society with the percentage of women among that specialty’s active physicians for 2015.
Fifty percent of APA’s presidents in the study period were women. Of 37,717 active psychiatrists in 2015, 38 percent were women. This resulted in a 12 percent positive difference between the percentage of women who were president and the percentage of women who were psychiatrists during the study years.
“The Society of Critical Care Medicine, American Society of Neuroradiology, American Psychiatric Association, and American Geriatrics Society had the highest number of years with women presidential leaders (4 to 6 of 10 years). In contrast, 10 societies had 0 of 10 years with women presidential leaders,” reported the researchers.
The researchers gathered their data on active physicians in each specialty from the Association of American Medical Colleges’ 2016 Physician Specialty Data Report: Active Physicians by Sex and Specialty 2015. Gender was verified via publicly available online profiles.
“By electing as many women as men to serve as president in recent years, our members acknowledge and celebrate the qualities and strengths that women bring to our profession,” said APA CEO and Medical Director Saul Levin, M.D., M.P.A.
Levin noted that APA has not only elected women but also women from different backgrounds. “I’m proud of APA’s diversity and encourage physicians in every specialty to join us in electing to their professional leadership colleagues of every gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and sexual identity to better reflect the rich variety of perspectives and backgrounds present in modern medicine,” he said.
“It speaks to the organization’s commitment to inclusiveness in leadership that five of APA’s 10 most recent presidents, including myself, have been women,” said Stewart. “To be sustained as APA moves forward, we will have to continue to focus on inclusiveness at all levels of membership, the better to guide our profession in providing care that is sensitive to our patients’ diverse perspectives and needs.” ■
“Analysis of Gender Equity in Leadership of Physician-Focused Medical Specialty Societies, 2008-2017” can be accessed
here.
