• Neeraja B Peterson, Robert H Friedman, Arlene S Ash, Shakira Franco, and Phyllis L Carr.
• Center for Health Services Research, Division of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Suite 6000 Medical Center East, Nashville, TN 37212, USA. neeraja.peterson@vanderbilt.edu
• J Gen Intern Med. 2004 Mar 1;19(3):259-65.

BackgroundDespite the need to recruit and retain minority faculty in academic medicine, little is known about the experiences of minority faculty, in particular their self-reported experience of racial and ethnic discrimination at their institutions.ObjectiveTo determine the frequency of self-reported experience of racial/ethnic discrimination among faculty of U.S. medical schools, as well as associations with outcomes, such as career satisfaction, academic rank, and number of peer-reviewed publications.DesignA 177-item self-administered mailed survey of U.S. medical school faculty.SettingTwenty-four randomly selected medical schools in the contiguous United States.ParticipantsA random sample of 1,979 full-time faculty, stratified by medical school, specialty, graduation cohort, and gender.MeasurementsFrequency of self-reported experiences of racial/ethnic bias and discrimination.ResultsThe response rate was 60%. Of 1,833 faculty eligible, 82% were non-Hispanic white, 10% underrepresented minority (URM), and 8% non-underrepresented minority (NURM). URM and NURM faculty were substantially more likely than majority faculty to perceive racial/ethnic bias in their academic environment (odds ratio [OR], 5.4; P <.01 and OR, 2.6; P <.01, respectively). Nearly half (48%) of URM and 26% of NURM reported experiencing racial/ethnic discrimination by a superior or colleague. Faculty with such reported experiences had lower career satisfaction scores than other faculty (P <.01). However, they received comparable salaries, published comparable numbers of papers, and were similarly likely to have attained senior rank (full or associate professor).ConclusionsMany minority faculty report experiencing racial/ethnic bias in academic medicine and have lower career satisfaction than other faculty. Despite this, minority faculty who reported experiencing racial/ethnic discrimination achieved academic productivity similar to that of other faculty.

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