According to a recent study conducted by researchers from the University of Washington and Yale University, female radiologists are publishing more original research. For the study, published in the American Journal of Roentgenology, the research team chronicled academic publishing trends over the last 35 years and discovered a gradual increase in scholarly submissions from women in medical imaging.
The number of first-time and senior female authors grew over time. Additionally, the researchers discovered that, in more recent years, many first-time female authors chose to publish research with senior female authors as opposed to established male colleagues.
"The results of our study may help the efforts of radiology societies and academic departments increase the representation of women in radiology by elucidating scientific article authorship and mentorship trends," the researchers wrote.
The Search For Female Radiologists
According to The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, almost 50 percent of U.S. medical school graduates are women. And yet, most of these female doctors avoid radiology. Men make up 80 percent of the labor force, reported the American College of Radiology in its 2014 Workforce Survey. Over the past decade, this gender distribution has remained unchanged.
Many in the specialty attribute this to a number of variables, including delayed exposure to the field. However, female radiologists do dominate the academic arena.
"More women work in academic practices, though the role of gender in this difference may be secondary to the benefits of a flexible schedule that allows for child care and other family responsibilities, or to a desire to contribute to the academic mission," the researchers involved with the ACR survey wrote.
Dr. Crystal Piper, a Yale University diagnostic radiologist and one of the lead authors of the academic publishing study, said many young female doctors worry that specialty will interfere with their familial ambitions.
"One Yale fellow told me that the reason women don't go into radiology is because they like being around children and babies," Piper said in an interview with AuntMinnie.com. "I've heard that a lot – the idea that women just don't do well in technical fields, and that they choose careers that fit the 'lifestyle' of having children. But the reason women aren't choosing radiology is more nuanced than that."
Piper believes the key issue is the lack of female mentors in the field. To overcome this obstacle, she says enterprising female academics must form productive relationships with younger female medical imaging professionals looking to contribute original research.
"Encouraging senior female investigators to work with female junior investigators may be one step in addressing the problem that men in the sciences remain better mentored than women," Piper and her fellow researchers wrote.
Cultivating The Next Generation
Most medical school students don't encounter radiology until their third or fourth year, reported Diagnostic Imaging. As a result, few female medical students have time to investigate and develop a passion for the specialty. Additionally, when covering radiology, most institutions put too much focus on its technical aspects and fail to touch on specialty-specific, patient management work.
Some medical schools have attempted to address these problems.
The Medical University of South Carolina and Vanderbilt University offer basic medical courses on anatomy and pathology that employ radiological equipment. Female instructors even lead some of these courses.
"Over the years, radiology became indispensable. It's better than any other tool for diagnosing appendicitis," Dr. Stephanie Spottswood, a radiologist and the vice chair for diversity for the Department of Radiology at Vanderbilt University Medical School, said in an interview with Diagnostic Imaging. "Every cancer patient, every trauma patient is handled with imaging. The junior people figured this out. They realized that's where a lot of the decisions were being made."
Vanderbilt is also trying to solve the mentorship conundrum by offering additional support to female radiologists. The school hosts lectures by personnel from the American Association for Women Radiologists. Normally, the presenters take on topics like interdepartmental promotion, educational portfolio development and work-life balance.
Vanderbilt also encourages female staff members to take part in third-party leadership development programs.
Though small, support programs help female radiologists attain leadership positions. And these female leaders inspire young women to join the specialty.
"No one wants to be the only woman in the environment," Lara Hewett, a fourth-year medical student at MUSC, told Diagnostic Imaging.
Larger organizations have attempted to move the needle as well. For instance, the ACR established the Commission for Women and General Diversity to tackle radiology's diversity problem.
Leaders Come To The Fore
It seems these disparate initiatives are having an impact.
According to the ACR, female radiologists have slowly gained positions in key institutions and organizations within the specialty. Currently, 30 percent of radiology residency program directors are women. Female radiologists account for 10 percent of all department chair positions. And, women occupy 40 percent of the total masthead positions at the Radiological Society of North America's publication Radiology and the AJR.
Many medical imaging professionals believe these developments will enrich the specialty and help all radiologists, no matter their gender.
"The truth is, our field is more productive when it's more diverse," Piper told AuntMinnie.com.
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Ronny Bachrach
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