Senior Academic Ranks in US Anesthesiology Programs: Differences Between Women and Men and Examination of Independent Factors for Success

Introduction: Gender equality among faculty is a challenge in academic medicine, including anesthesiology. We investigated the likelihood that several factors were associated with academic success in the United States (US), defined as having achieved a senior academic rank (SAR) in a US anesthesiology training program. Methods: We collected data available on the Internet on 131 anesthesiology programs, including faculty academic rank, gender, number of faculty, graduate status from an American medical school, fellowship training status, number of residents, number of program fellowships, and geographic location. SAR was defined as either associate professor or professor. Data were analyzed with logistic regression. Results: We extracted data on 110 programs with complete data of interest available for analysis. These programs represented 7993 faculty, of which 66% were men and 34% were women. Within gender subsets, 27.6% of men vs 18.3% of women had a SAR, and 13.7% of men vs 6.6% of women were professors (P ≤ .005 for all comparisons). Female gender, proportionately fewer women faculty, and a larger department were significantly associated with decreased odds of having a SAR. Geographic location influenced the outcome. Discussion: Program information that was publicly available on the Internet provided meaningful data on factors for academic success in US anesthesiology programs. Female gender, the proportion of women faculty, department size, the number of fellowships in a program, and geographic location were significantly associated with faculty academic success. Conclusions: This study examined mostly unmodifiable factors influencing academic success and indicates that female gender lessens the odds of success. Efforts are urgently needed to alleviate this gender gap and provide opportunities for improvement