• Pooja Gangwani and Antonia Kolokythas.
• Assistant Professor, Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Eastman Institute for Oral Health, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY. Electronic address: pooja_gangwani@urmc.rochester.edu.
• J. Oral Maxillofac. Surg. 2019 Aug 1; 77 (8): 1536-1540.

PurposeThe present study aimed to report the main barriers to women's advancement in leadership and high-rank academic positions in the fields of medicine and dentistry.Materials And MethodsAn electronic search was conducted of the MEDLINE database using the PubMed search engine. The Google Scholar search engine was also used to access scholarly articles across all disciplines. A total of 173 reports and abstracts published in the English language were retrieved and evaluated for their content. Of these, 32 were initially selected and reviewed. Finally, 16 studies focusing on gender-related discrepancies in healthcare concerning leadership and academic advancement were included.ResultsThe following themes emerged as the main contributors to the gender disparity in academic medicine and dentistry: 1) the lack of appropriate role models and mentorship for successful socialization of female faculty; 2) the lack of peer support for women's promotion through the academic ranks and their selection for executive administrative roles at equal rates as their male counterparts; and 3) implicit bias and negative stereotypes.ConclusionsA need exists to increase the number of female role models and enhance mentorship to increase the attraction toward academic careers in medicine and dentistry. Cultural changes also are required at an institutional and organizational level to embrace diversity. The implicit biases against women's promotion to higher academic ranks must be addressed.Copyright © 2019 American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

10 keywords...

hide…