Personnel & Team Management

Joint Statement: Overcoming Barriers to Promotion of Women and Underrepresented in Medicine (URiM) Faculty in Academic Emergency Medicine

December 2, 2020

The American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP), American Academy of Emergency Medicine (AAEM), the Association of Academic Chairs of Emergency Medicine (AACEM), and the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM) are committed to supporting women and underrepresented in medicine (URiM) faculty in advancing their careers and achieving academic promotion. Promotion not only celebrates individual achievement, but also affords faculty access to leadership roles limited to senior rank. By increasing diversity in healthcare leadership and governance, organizations can better address inequities that women and underrepresented minorities face, and improve healthcare delivery to patients with diverse values, beliefs, and behaviors.

Download a PDF of the following strategies for academic departments and institutions to achieve organizational excellence with respect to the promotion and advancement of women and URiM faculty:

Create a culture of inclusivity that hears, values, respects, and acts upon the ideas and experiences of a diverse workforce.
Pair new faculty with a faculty advocate who can explain the value of promotion, the promotions process, and promotion criteria.
Help women and URiM faculty build mentorship networks. Recognize and incentivize faculty who are successful mentors and sponsors of women and URiM faculty.
Track and publicize recruitment and promotion metrics for women and URiM relative to their peers.
Catalyze participation in research through mentorship, targeted developmental and funding opportunities. Sponsor women and URiM faculty as peer reviewers and editors.
Ensure that Advancement Promotion and Tenure (APT) committees value the work of women and URiM on diversity committees and initiatives.
Strive for equity in recognition by having awards committees track their nominations of women and URiM faculty for departmental, institutional, and national awards.
Call for balanced speaker panels at conferences.
Champion policies that support women and URiM faculty (e.g. reduction or elimination of overnight shifts in the 3rd trimester, protection against harassment and discrimination).
Explore family-friendly processes (e.g. emergency childcare services) that lighten the load of the “second shift,” at home.
Provide unconscious bias training for all physicians.
Encourage a holistic review of candidates for promotion that considers the impact of variable opportunity and major life events (e.g. medical, parental, or family leave) on productivity.
Commit to diverse representation on search committees for both junior and senior leadership positions. Evaluate senior leaders on their success in developing diverse talent pipelines.
Consider term limits for senior leadership roles such as dean and chair positions to allow new voices to be heard.