Women in Academic Medicine — Progress and Challenges

In 1960, only about 5 percent of medical students in the United States were women; today, the numbers of women and men in medical school are approximately equal. This apparent success story, however, is tempered by observations that women who enter academic medicine have been less likely than men to be promoted or to serve in leadership positions.1 As of 2005, only 15 percent of full professors and 11 percent of department chairs were women.2 In this issue of the Journal, Jagsi et al.3 document similar trends for women as authors of articles in prominent medical journals. They report that . . .