Women are still largely underrepresented in senior academic medical positions

Two new studies further illustrate how women are underrepresented in the upper echelons of medical fields. In one study, scientists found that women occupy fewer than 20% of endowed chair positions — which are among the most distinguished in academia — at the top 10 schools with the most NIH awards in 2018, including Johns Hopkins University and Stanford. Even after accounting for specialty, the number of publications, and NIH research grants, men were more likely to hold endowed chair positions than their female colleagues.

In another study, a 2014-2018 analysis of research papers on 200 cardiovascular trials published in three high-profile journals revealed that women made up only about 1 in 10 members of the trials' leadership committees. Around 40% of the trials had no female investigators, and women accounted for about 10% of first authors or last authors on the published papers.