Ophthalmology Departments Remain Among the Least Diverse Clinical Departments at United States Medical Schools

Purpose: The current demographics of the ophthalmology workforce do not reflect the diverse United States population, which has implications for addressing health disparities. The demographics of ophthalmology department faculty may influence the recruitment of underrepresented students into the field. This study sought to determine how the racial and ethnic demographics of ophthalmology department faculty compare with those of other clinical departments at United States medical schools. Design: Secondary data analysis of medical school faculty demographic data from the 2019 American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC) Faculty Roster. Participants: Clinical faculty and department chairs at United States medical schools. Methods: We analyzed the racial and ethnic demographics of clinical department faculty and department chairpersons using data from the 2019 AAMC Faculty Roster. We calculated the proportion of underrepresented minority (URM) faculty in ophthalmology and in 17 other clinical departments. We analyzed these data for statistically significant differences between ophthalmology and other clinical departments. In addition, we compared the percentage of URM ophthalmology faculty with the proportion of URM persons among graduating United States medical students and in the United States population using data from the Medical School Graduation Questionnaire and the United States census, respectively. Main Outcome Measures: The proportion of URM persons, defined as Black, Hispanic or Latino, Native American, or Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander among clinical faculty and department chairs. Results: Ophthalmology faculty are less racially and ethnically diverse than graduating medical students and the general United States population. When compared with 17 other clinical departments, ophthalmology has the third-lowest proportion of URM faculty, with only radiology and orthopedic surgery having a smaller proportion of URM faculty. These differences were statistically significant in most departments (12 of 18). No statistically significant difference was found in the proportion of URM department chairs in ophthalmology compared with most other clinical departments, although the absolute number of URM chairs in ophthalmology is low at only 8 chairpersons. Conclusions: More work must be done to increase the recruitment of URM physicians into ophthalmology faculty positions to obtain parity with other clinical departments and with the diverse patient populations that physicians serve.