The College Fix

Authors argue it is racial minorities and women who need help

White male doctors are less likely to get hired for entry-level positions, according to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

However, the authors argue the “culture and practices surrounding faculty appointments and promotions” needs to be “transform[ed]” – to support women and racial minorities.

This is because, based on a review of faculty appointments since 2000, “[a]ll racial and ethnic groups of both female and male gender had a lower likelihood of promotion compared with White men, with the exception of Asian men.”

As acknowledged by the authors, the study lacked information on “research productivity” including the reception of grants and published papers, as well “the preference of physicians to pursue an academic career.”

“For promotion and appointment, these findings indicate that efforts to ensure equitable advancement should take into consideration how bias might be introduced, and how it might be addressed, at each level of review,” the authors concluded.

However, their paper found “Black men…were more likely to be appointed as department chair…than White men.”

Even though white men are less likely to get an entry-level position and be appointed department chair, the authors concluded there are racial issues at play.

“These findings indicate that preferential promotion of White men within academic medicine continues to persist in the new millennium, with racially and ethnically diverse women experiencing greater underpromotion,” the “conclusions and relevance” section states.

“To achieve a workforce that reflects the diversity of the US population, this study suggests that academic medicine needs to transform its culture and practices surrounding faculty appointments and promotion.”

All three co-authors did not respond to multiple requests for comment in the past three weeks.

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Dr. Lauren Clark, Dr. Elena Sheringa, and Dr. Taniesha Scheuerman were all asked by email on Jan. 7 and Jan. 15 how the findings of potential discrimination against white men fit into their conclusions and how their lack of control variables limits the conclusions they drew from their study.

The University of Kansas Medical Center, where Clark and Schuereman work, told The College Fix they would decline to answer the questions.

However, a research expert with Do No Harm criticized the study in an emailed statement provided to The Fix.

Ian Kingsbury said “there is a double standard in how they [the paper’s authors] make sense of disparities.”

For instance, “the higher likelihood of promotion among white men is cited as evidence of discrimination but their lower likelihood of appointment to entry-level academic positions is not” he wrote.

Kingsbury, the director of research for the medical reform group, also criticized the basis of the research, which is that black newborns have higher survival rates with black physicians. Do No Harm has directly addressed this claim.

The claim has been challenged by experts, including after Justice Ketanji Jackson erroneously cited it in a dissent in the affirmative action ruling in 2023.

Kingsbury said the lack of important control variables, like “research productivity,” limits the study’s conclusions, saying “white doctors face substantially higher admissions standards to medical school than do black or Hispanic doctors, so it wouldn’t be surprising if it turns out they are, on average, more productive researchers.”

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