In 1980, 92 percent of department chairs at U.S. medical schools were white, and in 2019, 78 percent were white, according to a research letter published May 19 in JAMA Network Open.
Researchers analyzed and compared data on clinical faculty and departmental chairs at MD-graduating schools from 1980 to 2019. In 1980, the study cohort size included 54,376 people and 185,649 people in 2019.
In 1980, 1.4 percent of department chairs were Asian, 1.8 percent were Black and less than 2 percent were Hispanic, according to the findings. By 2019, 10.1 percent of department chairs were Asian, 3.7 percent were Black and 3.6 percent were Hispanic.
"Particularly striking was the significant underrepresentation of Asian individuals among departmental chairs compared with their representation among faculty more generally," the researchers noted. In 2019, there were 38,112 Asian faculty, accounting for 20.5 percent of all medical school faculty.
Researchers also examined the data across 14 specialties, and found that white individuals were overrepresented in department chairs across all specialties compared to the proportion of white faculty, with the exception of family medicine. Asian faculty were underrepresented in chair positions across most specialties, except otolaryngology, psychiatry and dermatology.
There was proportional representation in chair positions across all specialties among Black and HIspanic faculty, with the exception of family medicine, where Black faculty were overrepresented.
"Our study revealed some gains in the racial and ethnic composition of chairs over time, although white individuals remained the predominant group," researchers said. "Chair search committees may benefit from increased group diversity and more formal orientation about the merits of diverse leadership in academic medicine."