Open Access

ARTICLE

An analysis of diversity within academic urology leadership

Randy K. Casals, Tyler L. Overholt, Catherine A. Matthews, Ram A. Pathak, John D. McConnell, Matvey Tsivian

Department of Urology, Wake Forest Baptist Health, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA
Address correspondence to Dr. Randy K. Casals, 140 Charlois Blvd. Winston-Salem, NC 27103 USA

Canadian Journal of Urology 2022, 29(4), 11204-11208.

Abstract

Introduction: Women, underrepresented minorities, and international medical graduates are underrepresented in urology. We sought to compare demographics of leaders in academic urology to urology faculty and academic medical faculty.
Materials and methods: The Association of American Medical Colleges provided academic medical faculty demographics. Women, underrepresented minorities, and international medical graduates in leadership roles (department/division chair or full professor) were identified. Fisher’s exact tests were performed to compare proportions of those groups in urology leadership to academic urology, academic medicine leadership, and academic medicine.
Results: In 2019, there were 179,105 faculty in academic medicine with 41,766 in leadership and 1,614 faculty in urology with 567 in leadership. Significantly fewer women were in urology leadership compared to academic urology (7.4% vs. 22.0%, p < 0.0001), academic medical leadership (7.4% vs. 25.0%, p < 0.0001), and academic medicine (7.4% vs. 42.0%, p < 0.0001). Significantly fewer underrepresented minorities were in urology leadership compared to academic medicine (6.9% vs. 9.4%, p = 0.04) with no significant difference when compared to urology faculty (6.9% vs. 8.1%, p = 0.4) or medical faculty leadership (6.9% vs. 6.4%, p = 0.6). Significantly more international medical graduates were in urology leadership compared to across academic urology, (32% vs. 24%, p = 0.0006), but significantly fewer than those in leadership across all medical specialties (32% vs. 40%, p = 0.0001).
Conclusions: Women and underrepresented minorities are significantly underrepresented in academic urologic leadership while international medical graduates are statistically overrepresented. Considering calls for diversity, equity, and inclusion, these data highlight a need for increased representation in leadership positions in academic urology.

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