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Examining Faculty Awards for Gender Equity and Evolving Values

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ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND

Awards given to medical school faculty are one important mechanism for recognizing what is valued in academic medicine. There have been concerns expressed about the gender distribution of awards, and there is also a growing appreciation for the evolving accomplishments and talents that define academic excellence in the 21st century and that should be considered worthy of award recognition.

OBJECTIVE

Examine faculty awards at our institution for gender equity and evolving values.

METHODS

Recipient data were collected on awards from 1996 to 2007 inclusively at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine (SOM). Descriptions of each award also were collected. The female-to-male ratio of award recipients over the time span was reviewed for changes and trends. The title and text of each award announcement were reviewed to determine if the award represented a traditional or a newer concept of excellence in academic medicine.

MAIN RESULTS

There were 21 annual awards given to a total of 59 clinical award recipients, 60 research award recipients, and 154 teaching award recipients. Women received 28% of research awards, 29% of teaching awards and 10% of clinical awards. Gender distribution of total awards was similar to that of SOM full-time faculty except in the clinical awards category. Only one award reflected a shift in the culture of individual achievement to one of collaboration and team performance.

CONCLUSION

Examining both the recipients and content of awards is important to assure they reflect the current composition of diverse faculty and the evolving ideals of leadership and excellence in academic medicine.

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Acknowledgments

SA, PS, LWT, and AC are partially supported by FOCUS on Health & Leadership for Women, a program at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine designed to improve the recruitment, retention, advancement and leadership of women faculty and to promote women’s health research.

Conflict of interest

None.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Emergency Medicine, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Stephanie Abbuhl MD

  2. FOCUS on Health & Leadership for Women, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Stephanie Abbuhl MD, Patricia Scott BA & Anne R. Cappola MD, ScM

  3. Division of Medicine, Department of General Internal Medicine, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Mirar N. Bristol MA

  4. Department of Cardiology, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Hera Ashfaq

  5. Medicine, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Lucy Wolf Tuton PhD

  6. Prevention and Population Health in the Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Lucy Wolf Tuton PhD

  7. Development for FOCUS on Health & Leadership for Women, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Lucy Wolf Tuton PhD

  8. Medicine and Epidemiology, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Anne R. Cappola MD, ScM

  9. Department of Surgery, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Seema S. Sonnad PhD

  10. Department of Surgery, University of Pennsylvania, 4 Silverstein, 3400 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA

    Seema S. Sonnad PhD

Authors
  1. Stephanie Abbuhl MD
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  2. Mirar N. Bristol MA
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  3. Hera Ashfaq
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  4. Patricia Scott BA
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  5. Lucy Wolf Tuton PhD
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  6. Anne R. Cappola MD, ScM
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  7. Seema S. Sonnad PhD
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Seema S. Sonnad PhD.

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Abbuhl, S., Bristol, M.N., Ashfaq, H. et al. Examining Faculty Awards for Gender Equity and Evolving Values. J GEN INTERN MED 25, 57–60 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-009-1092-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-009-1092-8

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