• Kimberly A Skarupski, Cheryl Welch, Valerie Dandar, Elza Mylona, Archana Chatterjee, and Meenakshi Singh.
• K.A. Skarupski is associate dean, Faculty Development, School of Medicine, associate professor, Division of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology, School of Medicine, and associate professor, Epidemiology, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland; ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6722-6181. C. Welch is director, Faculty Affairs, School of Medicine, University of Colorado, Denver, Colorado. V. Dandar is director II, Medical School Operations, Association of American Medical Colleges, Washington, DC. E. Mylona is vice dean, Faculty Affairs and Professional Development, and professor of internal medicine, Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk, Virginia. A. Chatterjee is professor and chair, Department of Pediatrics, and senior associate dean, Faculty Development, University of South Dakota, Vermillion, South Dakota. M. Singh is an independent consultant, Denver, Colorado.
• Acad Med. 2020 Feb 1; 95 (2): 226-233.

PurposeThe average age of full-time faculty members at U.S. medical schools accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education was 49.5 in 2017, yet the academic medicine community knows little about late-career faculty. The authors sought to characterize full-time faculty members 55 or older and assess their work-life expectations.MethodThe authors conducted a survey (May-September 2017) of faculty 55+ at 14 U.S. medical schools.ResultsOf the 5,204 faculty members invited, 2,126 (40.8%) responded. The average age of respondents was 62.3, and among those responding to the relevant questions, most identified as male (1,425; 67.2%), white (1,841; 88.3%), and married/partnered (1,803; 85.5%). Fewer than half (915; 45.2%) indicated they had begun thinking about full-time retirement, estimating that they would do so at a mean age of 67.8 (standard deviation = 4.3). Half the respondents (1,004; 50.0%) would consider moving to part-time status. The top 3 personal factors likely to affect retirement decisions were health, postretirement plans, and spouse's/partner's plans. The top 3 professional factors were phased retirement or part-time options, changes in institutional leadership, and presence of a successor. Faculty indicated that they would, post retirement, be interested in ongoing work in teaching/education and research/scholarship and that they wanted health insurance, email, and part-time teaching opportunities.ConclusionsU.S. medical schools employ a rapidly aging workforce. These data indicate that neither faculty members nor institutions are prepared. Faculty affairs and develop ment leaders should champion efforts to engage with late-career faculty to prepare for this changing landscape.

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