APA Women’s Caucus Outlines Numerous Ways to Boost Your Career
Investing time and effort into your career through multiple channels will help you earn the pay and recognition—and derive the pleasure and satisfaction—that you deserve. This is the third article in a series from APA’s Women Psychiatrists Caucus.
Whether you are a psychiatry resident or fellow, an early career psychiatrist, or a psychiatrist making a life transition, you should be thinking about how to advance in your career, particularly for those of you who are women. Women in academic medicine face the prospects of the “leaky pipeline.” According to a recent report from the Association of American Medical Colleges, women comprise 52% of medical school graduates, 45% of faculty, 29% of full professors, 25% of department chairs, and 27% of deans. In psychiatry, 52% of psychiatry residents and 34% of department chairs are women. While women’s representation is increasing, there is still a gap between the proportion of women entering psychiatry and medicine overall and those in leadership positions.
Why is this? We don’t know definitively, but we have some data and hypotheses. Women face pay inequity, according to Jacqueline A. Hobbs, M.D., Ph.D., writing in the August issue of Psychiatric News—and, as the AAMC report notes, this divide is greater with women from minoritized groups. In psychiatry, women with assistant professor appointments earn 96 cents on the dollar compared with men.
This inequity in the early career stage can have large downstream effects. Moreover, women may have more caregiving responsibilities, be more likely to face discrimination and harassment, and be less likely to receive adequate mentoring opportunities and advocate for themselves.
How to Get Ahead in Psychiatry
Given these hurdles, it is important to consider how to attain career advancements. The following are some tips that people of all genders may want to consider:
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Identify your passion and your niche. Are you interested in academic psychiatry, research, public psychiatry, private practice, telehealth, industry, or a different area? Once you build your niche, colleagues will turn to you as the expert. Your niche may be a condition, such as sleep disorders, or a clinical intervention, such as dialectical behavioral or ketamine-assisted therapy.
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Say yes to the work, but it is OK to say no. Show up and do the work; each experience can bring a valuable skill set, and taking on additional responsibilities can bring leadership opportunities. For example, if you are interested in administration, getting involved in your institution’s quality council may lead to leadership positions. If your heart is in clinical work, attend a training program to learn a new skill. If you are interested in academic medicine, it is important to be familiar with your institution’s academic advancement criteria. That will help you decide what to take on.
Typical activities that can help with promotion include writing peer-reviewed manuscripts or grant applications and holding leadership positions in national organizations or on institutional or national committees. You may need to be strategic about which activities to pursue, however, to avoid overextending yourself.
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Join professional organizations. Involvement in professional organizations offers opportunities for career advancement, education, networking, trainee award fellowships, mentoring, and more. You can demonstrate your expertise by presenting at a conference or joining a council, committee, or caucus and collaborating with colleagues with similar interests or identities. You can develop leadership skills by co-chairing a committee or holding a regional or national office.
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Consider pursuing further training or formal education. You may wonder whether you can benefit from earning an additional degree, and it is useful to know the options. Many institutions offer leadership training. Professional organizations offer free leadership resources, including the American Association of Psychiatric Administration and Leadership, the American Medical Women’s Association, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and, of course, APA. There are also leadership fellowship programs, such as the Hedwig van Ameringen Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine program and graduate training to earn an M.B.A., M.P.A., or M.P.H. While you will need to invest time and money in these, you will gain valuable knowledge and connections.
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Ask for advice: Find a mentor, sponsor, or coach. A mentor, sponsor, or coach provides personalized assistance. A mentor can give guidance and direction; in fact, you may benefit from having more than one mentor, each focusing on different topics such as research or work-life balance. A recent review of mentorship in academic medicine by Amy H. Farkas and colleagues found that mentoring programs were primarily focused on junior faculty and trainees; however, given the leaky pipeline, mentorship is essential at all career stages.
A sponsor is similar to a mentor but is typically focused on your career advancement and recommends you for opportunities. A coach works with you collaboratively to help you build skills in areas that you identify; some academic centers and companies offer coaching programs. Another option is to set up a conversation with someone whose career you admire.
Charting Your Course
Career advancement and the path to leadership can ebb and flow based on your interests, goals, desired work-life balance, and institutional factors. However, I hope that the tips outlined in this article will help support and speed up the process for you.
For more information, consider joining APA’s Women Psychiatrists Caucus for our second year of “Mentorship Mondays,” which will start again in the fall, and listen to our podcast series “APA Women Psychiatrists Caucus Chats: Conversations With Women Leaders,” which can be accessed here or on your favorite podcast platform.
Finally, consider joining the Women Psychiatrists Caucus as a member. If you are interested, please contact Madonna Delfish at [email protected]. ■
Resources
Biographies
Cathryn A. Galanter, M.D., is a professor of clinical psychiatry and the director of the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship at State University of New York Downstate and NYC Health + Hospitals, Kings County. She serves on the APA Council on Children, Adolescents, and Families and is an AACAP Representative to the APA Assembly Committee of Representatives of Subspecialties and Sections and a member of the APA Women Psychiatrists Caucus.
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Psychiatric News
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Published online: 27 August 2024
Published in print: September 1, 2024 – September 30, 2024
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