• Dorothy A Andriole, Yan Yan, and Donna B Jeffe.
• D.A. Andriole is assistant dean for medical education and associate professor of surgery, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri; ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8902-1227. Y. Yan is professor of surgery and biostatistics, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri; ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5917-1475. D.B. Jeffe is professor of medicine and director, Health Behavior, Communication, and Outreach Core, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri; ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7642-3777.
• Acad Med. 2017 Oct 1; 92 (10): 1440-1448.

PurposeMentored K (K01/K08/K23) career development awards are positively associated with physicians' success as independent investigators; however, individuals in some racial/ethnic groups are less likely to receive this federal funding. The authors sought to identify variables that explain (mediate) the association between race/ethnicity and mentored K award receipt among U.S. Liaison Committee for Medical Education-accredited medical school graduates who planned research-related careers.MethodThe authors analyzed deidentified data from the Association of American Medical Colleges and the National Institutes of Health Information for Management, Planning, Analysis, and Coordination II grants database for a national cohort of 28,690 graduates from 1997-2004 who planned research-related careers, followed through August 2014. The authors examined 10 potential mediators (4 research activities, 2 academic performance measures, medical school research intensity, degree program, debt, and specialty) of the association between race/ethnicity and mentored K award receipt in models comparing underrepresented minorities in medicine (URM) and non-URM graduates.ResultsAmong 27,521 graduates with complete data (95.9% of study-eligible graduates), 1,147 (4.2%) received mentored K awards (79/3,341 [2.4%] URM; 1,068/24,180 [4.4%] non-URM). All variables except debt were significant mediators; together they explained 96.2% (95%, CI 79.1%-100%) of the association between race/ethnicity and mentored K award.ConclusionsResearch-related activities during/after medical school and standardized academic measures largely explained the association between race/ethnicity and mentored K award in this national cohort. Interventions targeting these mediators could mitigate racial/ethnic disparities in the federally funded physician-scientist research workforce.

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