Retaining Faculty from Underrepresented Groups in Academic Medicine: Results from a Needs Assessment

Academic medical centers can improve the quality of care and address health inequities by recruiting and retaining faculty from underrepresented in medicine (URiM) groups; however, the retention of URiM faculty is a barrier to reaching equity-related goals because URiM faculty are less likely to remain in academia and be promoted compared with their peers. As such, the objective of this study was to determine factors that influence the retention of URiM faculty at large academic centers.

One-time, semistructured stay interviews were conducted to assess the experiences of URiM faculty at a large academic hospital in Boston, Massachusetts between October 2016 and April 2017. A qualitative researcher coded the transcripts and identified central themes.

The participants (N = 17) were 65% Black/African American and 35% Hispanic/Latinx. The median number of years on faculty was 3 years (range 1-33). The themes identified through the stay interviews were grouped into three domains: areas of strength, challenges to advancement, and suggestions for improvement of support. Participants voiced leadership support in their development, the community of patients, URiM networking opportunities, and mentorship as strengths. The barriers to retention included the lack of transparency and trust in their work, a sense of tokenism, organizational management issues, and implicit biases. The suggested ways to improve support included the expanding of initiatives to include all members of groups URiM, continuing URiM faculty development programs, and increasing funding to support advancement.

This study underscored the importance of supportive leadership, URiM-specific faculty development programs, networking opportunities, and the recognition of achievements as factors that influence the retention of faculty at a large academic medical center. In addition, participants highlighted the need for strong mentor networks and emphasizing sponsorship.