Female radiologists scoring promotions at higher rate than male colleagues

Female radiologists are scoring promotions at a higher rate than their male colleagues, though they’re typically waiting a little longer to level up. 

That’s according to new research led by imaging experts at Yale University and published Monday in the Journal of the American College of Radiology. In a male-dominated specialty such as radiology, previous research has shown female faculty members in academia were less likely to advance in their careers. 

However, data from the Association of American Medical Colleges challenges this notion and assumptions held by the study’s authors. Over a 14-year period, promotion rates tended to be higher for women (42.3%) than men (38.3%) across all academic ranks. But the time to promotion was “significantly” higher among female assistant professors, who waited an average of 8.9 years versus 8.2 among male rads. 

“Under-representation of women at higher academic ranks has been ascribed to lower rates of promotion among women radiologists,” Ajay Malhotra, MD, a professor with the Yale University, and colleagues wrote April 7. “Factors such as limited networking opportunities, inadequate access to research opportunities and unintentional gender bias have been postulated as reasons for lower rates of promotion among women…In contrast to these previous assumptions, our analysis of longitudinal medical school faculty data show that promotion rates for female radiologists [were] on par or greater than men at all ranks.” 

The retrospective study utilized data from the AAMC, tracking full-time faculty appointed between 2000 and 2009. They then followed this primary cohort for 14 years through Jan. 1, 2024, comparing seven-year promotion endpoints against a secondary group of study subjects appointed between 2010 to 2016. 

The main group totaled nearly 2,500 faculty including 182 instructors, 1,589 assistant professors and 726 associates. Clinical educator track faculty had a “marginally” higher promotion rate (39.6% vs. 36.4%). However, they had to wait “significantly” longer for a promotion at 8.25 years versus 7.4 for those on the traditional track. For the second faculty cohort, rates of promotion were higher for assistant professors (26% vs. 15%). The average time to promotion also was shorter (5.7 vs. 6 for assistant professors) across all ranks for both men and women. 

By race and ethnicity, Asian assistant professors had a much higher promotion rate than white colleagues and other groups that are underrepresented in medicine. The latter two cohorts, meanwhile, had similar promotion rates and wait times at both the assistant and associate professor ranks. 

Malhotra and co-authors speculated that the pandemic and other factors may be helping to improve disparities across the profession. 

“Academic radiology practice has been evolving, and academic institutions and their radiology practices have been expanding to the community to build larger networks,” the authors noted. “The COVID pandemic also has had a tremendous impact on all aspects of radiology practice. Physician turnover in healthcare organizations incur substantial costs that are often hard to estimate. Professional fulfillment, burnout and intent to leave among physicians [are] strongly correlated with perceived leadership behavior. Higher promotion rates and time to promotion are likely reflective of external mission refocusing and attempts to reduce burnout and improve retention.”