Limited Progress for Women as Med School Deans

Although women are being appointed as medical school deans in larger numbers than was true two decades ago, they remain dramatically underrepresented in the schools' top jobs, served at less-prestigious institutions, and have far shorter tenures in the jobs, according to a study to be published in the August issue of Academic Medicine. The study finds that women were 15 percent of the deans appointed between 2000 and 2006, but were only 7 percent of all appointees over all from 1980 through 2006. Men were twice as likely as women to serve at highly ranked medical schools, and female deans had an average tenure of just three years, compared to 5.4 years for men.