Representation of Women in Pain Medicine Fellowships in the United States, 2017-2018

Objective: To quantify the representation of women trainees and faculty and to explore associations between them at Pain Medicine (PM) fellowship programs in the United States. Setting: PM fellowship programs accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. Methods: All PM programs approved for at least four fellows as of December 2017 were identified. Websites of these programs were reviewed to determine the number and gender of current fellows and faculty, and programs were contacted to verify the information. Results: A total of 56 PM programs were eligible; of these, 48 PM programs (86%) provided information about the gender distribution of fellows. Women comprised ∼25% of PM fellows. PM programs with a female rather than male fellowship program director (PD) had 2.40 times increased odds of a female trainee. Proportion of female faculty and division chief gender were not significantly associated with trainee gender composition. The adjusted odds of a faculty member being female was 1.99 times greater for PM programs with a female vs male PD and 3.13 times greater for programs with a female vs male division chief. Conclusions: Women are underrepresented throughout all levels of academic pain medicine. The presence of women in leadership roles is associated with higher proportions of female trainees and faculty, highlighting the need for more female role models in academic pain medicine.