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Posted on: November 30, 2012
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Posted By: Laura Hoopes

How Tough an Environment is Academic Medicine?

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Dear friends of women in science,

I heard from Susan Forsburg about a new article in the New York Times by Pauline Chen, transplant neurosurgeon and author of Final Exam: A Surgeon's Reflections on Mortality.
Chen begins by describing how a woman friend in academic medicine was nearly to the point of resigning and walking away, taking up a private practice. She had experienced little slights and marked lack of support from a polite but uninterested department chair. She felt she had too much holiday work, far more than her share, and other assignments were also burdensome. It felt to her like gender discrimination. But her chair listened to her and did nothing: the situation continued the same.
However, she didn't resign.
Chen was surprised to hear that, when she discussed her problems with her male colleagues, they were experiencing the same lack of support and burdensome assignments. Chen then cites a history of studies showing chilly environments in medical academia for women. She notes that a more recent report published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine had a different conclusion, one more like what her friend heard. The new report blamed the misery of the women academic doctors on "the organizational culture, or the norms of behavior and implicit values of these institutions. And it's not just women who are feeling demoralized." The report was based on a study of 2000 faculty members. Many felt insignificant, undervalued, or even invisible to their colleagues. Women did feel these problems and did not feel they were at all likely to be addressed in the future, but the suprise was that almost as many men suffered from the oppressive atmosphere as well. Chen says, "And the men were just as likely as the women to feel what experts have termed "moral distress," a sense of being trapped and forced to compromise on what one believes is right or just."
She suggests, based on a pilot project at Weill Cornell Medical College, that a structured mentoring program for faculty members can help alleviate some of the alienation and lack of communication.
I hope she is right.
Cheers,
Laura
Comments
4  Comments  | Post a Comment
Community

Hi Small College Woman,

I agree, I haven't heard those complaints from graduates either. But some have simply moved into industry without complaining. Also, I have heard complaints from women late in the training process for neurosurgery and a few other specialties, about very overt bad treatment from supervisors with accompanying giggles and rib pokings from the nearby junior men. Argh!
cheers,
Laura

From:  Laura Hoopes |  November 30, 2012
Community

Hi Miri,
Yes, there's still a problem with faculty non-diversity, but it will never get better unless they do something about this atmosphere. Maybe women are the canary in the mine re supportive atmosphere? I kind of like that image. We just won't stay any more if it's terrible. Men will complain but they don't mind as much deep down, or they expect work to be emotionally draining?
cheers,
Laura

From:  Laura Hoopes |  November 30, 2012
Community

Interesting, Laura. I advise a lot of pre-meds, but almost none of them SAY they want to go into academic med. Quite a few enjoy research as undergrads, though, and over the years, I've seen some of them end up in that career. None has ever said to me they get a lack of respect and support from the more powerful faculty in their departments, but maybe they just expect that. Thought provoking!
SCW

From:  Small College Woman |  November 30, 2012
Community

Hi Laura,

Medical academia and so-called R1 research universities are still pretty severely bastions for old white males today. Women are making inroads, but the more academically well-regarded the institution (as in Ivy League) the more likely it is to still be stuck in the 1950s mud in that regard. I never heard about this problem that the young male faculty are evidently having now. Interesting. It seems that when things are improved for the women, everyone gets a better deal. Where have I heard that before??
Miri

From:  Miriam R |  November 30, 2012
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