Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Releasing the Net to Promote Minority Faculty Success in Academic Medicine

  • Perspective Article
  • Published:
Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Underrepresented minority faculty in academic medicine continue to be underrepresented in academic health centers across the country. Their underrepresentation impacts advancements in clinical care, education, and discovery and slows our forward progress in the field. Underrepresented in medicine faculty includes people who are black or African American, Hispanic or Latinx, or Native American. Barriers to underrepresented faculty recruitment, retention, and advancement include minority and gratitude taxes, imposter syndrome, and a lack of an appreciation of power distance and distance traveled. This article reviews five barriers to progress in achieving appropriate diversity among faculty and leadership of academic health centers, focusing on the multiplying effects of these barriers and potential steps forward.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Nivet MA, Taylor VS, Butts GC, Strelnick AH, Herbert-Carter J, Fry-Johnson YW, et al. Diversity in academic medicine no. 1 case for minority faculty development today. Mt Sinai J Med. 2008;75(6):491–8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Hassouneh D, Lutz KF, Beckett AK, et al. The experiences of underrepresented minority faculty in schools of medicine. Med Educ Online. 2014;19:24768.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Whittaker JA, Montgomery BL, Martinez Acosta VG. Retention of underrepresented minority faculty: strategic initiatives for institutional value proposition based on perspectives from a range of academic institutions. J Undergrad Neurosci Educ. 2015;13(3):A136–45.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  4. Cropsey KL, Masho SW, Shiang R, et al. Why do faculty leave? Reasons for attrition of women and minority faculty from a medical school: four-year results. J Women’s Health (Larchmt). 2008;17(7):1111–8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Rodriguez JE, Campbell KM, Pololi LH. Addressing disparities in academic medicine: what of the minority tax? BMC Med Educ. 2015;15:6.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Beech BM, Calles-Escandon J, Hairston KG, Langdon SE, Latham-Sadler BA, Bell RA. Mentoring programs for underrepresented minority faculty in academic medical centers: a systematic review of the literature. Acad Med. 2013;88(4):541–9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Pololi LH, Evans AT, Gibbs BK, Krupat E, Brennan RT, Civian JT. The experience of minority faculty who are underrepresented in medicine, at 26 representative U.S. medical schools. Acad Med. 2013;88(9):1308–14.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Campbell KM, Rodriguez JE. Addressing the minority tax: perspectives from two diversity leaders on building minority faculty success in academic medicine. Acad Med. 2019.

  9. Cohen JJ. Time to shatter the glass ceiling for minority faculty. JAMA. 1998;280(9):821–2.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Beal AC AMSJ. The Sullivan Commission on Diversity in the Healthcare Workforce. The Commonwealth Fund Available: http://www.commonwealthfund.org/usr_doc/beal_sullivancommiss_682.pdf. Accessed January 5, 2020.

  11. LaDonna KA, Ginsburg S, Watling C. “Rising to the Level of Your Incompetence”: what physicians’ self-assessment of their performance reveals about the imposter syndrome in medicine. Acad Med. 2018;93(5):763–8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Russell R. On overcoming imposter syndrome. Acad Med. 2017;92(8):1070.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Tsuei SH, Lee D, Ho C, et al. Exploring the construct of psychological safety in medical education. Acad Med. 2019;94(11S Association of American Medical Colleges Learn Serve Lead: Proceedings of the 58th Annual Research in Medical Education Sessions):S28-S35.

  14. Jones CP. Levels of racism: a theoretic framework and a gardener’s tale. Am J Public Health. 2000;90(8):1212–5.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Romano MJ. White privilege in a white coat: how racism shaped my medical education. Ann Fam Med. 2018;16(3):261–3.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Donnelly DA, Cook KJ, van Ausdale D, et al. White privilege, color blindness, and services to battered women. Violence Against Women. 2005;11(1):6–37.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Magee JC. Power and social distance. Curr Opin Psychol. 2019;33:33–7.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Rafiei S, Pourreza A. The moderating role of power distance on the relationship between employee participation and outcome variables. Int J Health Policy Manag. 2013;1(1):79–83.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Sullivan LW, Suez MI. The state of diversity in the health professions a century after Flexner. Acad Med. 2010;85(2):246–53.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Academic Affairs, Academic Medicine, Brody School of Medicine, East Carolina University, 600 Moye Blvd AD-47, Greenville, NC, NC 27834, USA

    Kendall M. Campbell

  2. Department of Public Health, Brody School of Medicine, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, USA

    Briana D. Hudson

  3. Department of Pediatrics, Brody School of Medicine, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, USA

    Dmitry Tumin

Authors
  1. Kendall M. Campbell
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Briana D. Hudson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Dmitry Tumin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kendall M. Campbell.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

Informed Consent

There were no human participants involved in this project so informed consent was not necessary.

Additional information

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Campbell, K.M., Hudson, B.D. & Tumin, D. Releasing the Net to Promote Minority Faculty Success in Academic Medicine. J. Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities 7, 202–206 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-020-00703-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-020-00703-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation