Women Are Less Likely Than Men to Be Full Professors in Cardiology: Why Does This Happen and How Can We Fix It?

Academic cardiology exists within a broader culture where stereotypic assumptions about men and women are pervasive. Even if not consciously endorsed, these cultural stereotypes impede the entry, persistence, and advancement of women in academic cardiology. Often outside of conscious awareness, stereotypes can shape the decisions of those who determine who to admit, hire, promote, fund, and mentor in academic cardiology, and also influence individual cardiologists as they decide whether they “fit” in interventional or noninvasive cardiology, in research or clinical practice, or into the top leadership strata of academic cardiology. After adjusting for age, clinical experience, cardiology subspecialty, and multiple measures of research and clinical productivity, Blumenthal and colleagues,1 in this issue of Circulation, found the odds of being a full professor were 37% lower among female than male US academic cardiologists. Given that women comprise nearly half of medical school matriculates, in the face of the current and projected cardiology workforce shortage, with more than half of current cardiologists >55 years of age, identifying barriers for women’s career advancement in academic cardiology is critical to attract women to the cardiology workforce.