Comparing research activities of women and men faculty in departments of internal medicine

The findings from a questionnaire prepared by the Association of Professors of Medicine and the Association of American Medical Colleges were published in two reports in 1986 and 1987. These reports assessed the research activities of full-time members of departments of internal medicine in 1982 and 1983. The purpose of the present study was to analyze the data of the earlier reports in order to compare the research activities of women and men who were full-time faculty in departments of medicine during the time period originally surveyed. More than half of the faculty women who responded (52%) were less than 40 years old, compared with 23% of the faculty men. Sixty-seven percent of the women held the rank of instructor or assistant professor, in contrast to 40% of the men holding these ranks. Although the faculty of both genders reported generally the same proportions of time devoted to research, the women researchers with M.D. degrees had significantly less National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant support than did their counterparts who were men. Since this difference may have been a function of age, the authors compared NIH grant support of the faculty men and women with M.D. degrees who were 40–59 years old. Even in this older group, significantly fewer of the faculty women had NIH grant support than did the men (16% versus 30%). Furthermore, the percentage of designated laboratory space was significantly lower among the faculty women, regardless of degree (M.D., M.D./Ph.D., or Ph.D.). Further investigation is warranted to monitor the progress of women attempting to develop their research careers and to assess their overall clinical teaching and administrative roles in departments of medicine.