Race and Gender Disparities Among Leadership in Academic Family Medicine

Background: As the United States moves closer to a majority-minority, and a nearly equal male to female population, we should see a similar shift in the composition of leadership in the workplace. Family Medicine, while attempting to close the gaps, continues to fall short in producing women and minority leaders.Methods: The demographic traits of Association of Departments of Family Medicine (ADFM) chairs in medical education institutions in the United States and Canada were analyzed.Results: The majority of those in chair positions were male (67%) and White (53%) non-Hispanic. Male chairs have been in positions significantly longer than females (average 9 years and 6 years, respectively). There was also a significant difference between chairs in public versus private schools -public, that is, chairs at public institutions had a much longer average time of 9 years in current posi-tion compared with those in private institutions had an average of 5 years. While the comparison was not significant, 46% of those that self-reported as non-White held chair positions at private schools compared with 28% of those that self-reported as White. Conclusions: Despite the availability of leadership pathways, women and underrepresented minor-ities continue to be underrepresented in these positions. Future research would benefit from a more extensive evaluation of different characteristics such as disability, gender identity and sexual orienta-tion. ( J Am Board Fam Med 2022;35:902-905.)