Abstract Details

Title The Diversity of Graduate Medical Education Leadership in Neurology

Topic Health Care Disparities

Presentation(s) P18 - Poster Session 18 (5:30 PM-6:30 PM)

Poster/Presentation
Number 11-003

Background

Diversity in medicine impacts the quality of care provided to a diverse patient population. There are efforts in nearly every medical specialty to increase the diversity of the physician workforce. Overall diversity in the medical field has improved to some extent, particularly in terms of gender. However, significant disparities have persisted in senior academic positions, as reported by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC).

Objective

To outline the current landscape of diversity among adult neurology residency and fellowship program directors (PDs).

Design/Methods A dataset was generated by the AAMC for the purpose of this study, which included de-identified, person-level variables including self-reported gender, race, and the type of program for all PDs of ACGME-accredited adult neurology residencies and fellowships.

Results 56.7% of residency PDs and 58% of fellowship PDs are male. The male to female ratio of PDs is similar to current neurology residents which are 53.4% male. However, the lower proportion of female PDs in neurology is significantly reduced when compared to the percentage of female medical students (51.5%). Only 4.3% of residency PDs are Black and only 3.7% are Hispanic. There are no Black fellowship PDs and 5.1% are Hispanic. The race of medical students and residents is similar to that of PDs . Likewise, the breakdown of gender and racial diversity of neurology PDs is similar to that of PDs from all residencies and fellowships.

Conclusions This report shows a current snapshot of diversity among PDs of adult neurology residency and fellowship programs in the United States. Program leadership in graduate medical education may be a barrier to achieving diversity in medicine, and further investigation of such data and trends may inform strategies to recruit more diverse individuals into neurology.

Authors/Disclosures
Morgan C. Jordan, DO PRESENTER	Dr. Jordan has nothing to disclose.
Zahari Tchopev, MD (Brooke Army Medical Center Department of Neurology)	Dr. Tchopev has nothing to disclose.
Jeffrey C. McClean II, MD, FAAN (San Antonio Military Medical Center)	Dr. McClean has received personal compensation in the range of $0-$499 for serving as an Editor, Associate Editor, or Editorial Advisory Board Member for American Academy of Neurology. Dr. McClean has received personal compensation in the range of $0-$499 for serving as a Committee Member with American Academy of Neurology.