Pediatric Faculty at Medical Schools Fail to Represent Diversity of Patients

Diversity of healthcare workers is an asset in hospitals, encouraging culturally effective care that could improve health outcomes, increase access to care, and provide leadership to help guide future decisions. A new study, “Trends in the Diversity of Pediatric Faculty: 2000-2020,” in the September 2022 Pediatrics (published online Tuesday, Aug. 23) studied the Association of American Medical Colleges Faculty Roster of pediatric faculty from 2000-2020 looking at trends in sex, race and ethnicity among medical school pediatric faculty. While women in pediatric faculty increased across all areas, rates remained unchanged for males, and there were far fewer Black males teaching pediatrics in 2020 compared to 2000. Not only were black males less represented in pediatric faculty, and not reflective of the U.S. patient population—4.4% of pediatric faculty in 2020, compared to 12.1% of the U.S. population—but American Indian/Alaska Native males also decreased on faculty rosters—just 0.2% of faculty compared to 1.1% of the U.S. population. This change is important because faculty mentors strongly influence medical student career decisions, and trainees often favor mentors who look like them. As a result, it could mean fewer black men will become pediatricians in the future. Researchers concluded that academic centers should examine their recruitment and hiring practices to root out potential bias and ensure a diverse pediatric workforce to serve America’s changing populations of children.

###

The American Academy of Pediatrics is an organization of 67,000 primary care pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists and pediatric surgical specialists dedicated to the health, safety and well-being of infants, children, adolescents and young adults.