Clinical research study
Research Leadership and Investigators: Gender Distribution in the Federal Government

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amjmed.2012.03.006Get rights and content

Abstract

Background

The National Academies reported in Beyond Bias and Barriers: Fulfilling the Potential of Women in Academic Science and Engineering (2006) that “women are very likely to face discrimination.” In academic medicine, gender distribution is becoming more balanced. In the federal government, women also have made progress, doubling their representation in professional positions to 44%. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has a research program and a mission to train health care professionals; however, its gender distribution has not been described.

Methods

We conducted a descriptive study using public data for positions in the VA, National Institutes of Health (NIH), and Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). We followed with a case-control analysis of predictors of receipt of grant funding in the VA. Participants were 224 leadership positions and 132 principal investigators.

Results

Women comprised 33% (AHRQ), 27% (NIH), and 0% (VA) of the top research leadership. Across all VA research levels, women comprised 45% to 0%, depending on the service. In the case-control analysis of principal investigators, men had greater odds (odds ratio 8.0) of a Cooperative Studies Program (CSP) trial award. History of first, last, or any authorship on a clinical trial publication in the 10 years before the index trial was only weakly associated with award of a CSP trial. The gender imbalance was not explained by publication history.

Conclusions

Marked gender disparities were seen in the VA, except in Health Services Research. Organizations must investigate their practices to reveal disparities, investigate underlying factors, and intervene as needed.

Section snippets

Overview

Publicly available sources were used to identify individuals, categorize gender, and describe associated studies and publications (data collected September through November 2011). The study was exempt from human subject oversight and approved by the Hines VA Research and Development (R&D) Committee.

Research Leadership

Subjects included were those identified through links provided on the VA Office of R&D-associated websites,7 guided by the organizational chart. “Acting,” “interim,” “deputy,” and “co-director” were

Federal Government Research Leadership

Persons in the first and second levels were examined (using linked biographies to code gender for the NIH and AHRQ). Women comprised 3 of 9 (33%) top positions in the AHRQ, 6 of 22 (27%) in the NIH, and 0 of 3 (0%) in the VA. The remainder of the analysis focuses on the VA.

VA Positions

For the 3 men in the VA R&D top leadership positions enumerated above, the first level is the Chief R&D Officer (n = 1). Figure 1, bar 1 shows the second level of Research Service Director, with 2 (of 4) directors (ie,

Discussion

The representation of women at the highest levels in the NIH and AHRQ was low relative to professional positions overall in government (ie, 27%-33% vs 44%9), yet was higher than in the VA (0%). At lower levels in the VA, representation among center directors depended on the service. Participation was substantial in HSR&D, nonexistent in RR&D, and intermediate in the CSP. Leadership at local VAs was predominantly male.

Only HSR&D and CSP had publicly available information on principal

Acknowledgment

We thank Kathryn L. Reed, MD (University of Arizona) for helpful suggestions.

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    Funding: The study was supported by resources of the Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration. The contents of this article do not represent the views of the Department of Veterans Affairs or the US government.

    Conflict of Interest: None.

    Authorship: Both authors had access to the data and a role in writing the manuscript.

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