Imam M. Xierali, PhD; Marc A. Nivet, EdD, MBA; William F. Rayburn MD, MBA
Corresponding Author: Imam M. Xierali, PhD; University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center - Department of Family and Community Medicine. Email: imam.xierali@utsouthwestern.edu
Section: Brief Report
Publication Date: 1/13/2022
Background: As the designated department leader, chairs need to be sensitive to diversity and inclusiveness for recruitment and retention of faculty and visibility to medical students and resident physicians. The purpose of this analysis is to describe diversity by sex and race/ethnicity of family medicine (FM) chairs as a beginning to understand trends. Methods: This cross-sectional, observational study involved 2018 to 2020 data from the Association of American Medical Colleges Faculty Roster. Demographic data about FM chairs in 136 LCME-accredited U.S. medical schools was first described in 2018 and the most recently published in 2020. We compared this three-year data with other department chairs, faculty, medical school matriculants, and the U.S. general population using 2-independent-sample t test and Duncan’s multiple range test. Results: There were 407 FM chair-observations during the three years. While many FM chairs were white males, this was the lower than all other clinical departments combined (57.2% vs. 65.2%, P < 0.001). The proportion of chairs who were underrepresented minorities was highest in FM (16.7%) compared with all other clinical departments The distributions of FM chairs who were Black, Asian, and Native American were comparable with the U.S. population. The proportions of Hispanic FM chairs, FM faculty, and medical school matriculants lagged behind U.S. population. Conclusion: Diversity of department chairs in family medicine is greater than many other clinical departments and more representative of the U.S. general population. Attention by chairs to leadership development of females and recruitment of Hispanic faculty are priorities.