Pandemic Impact on Research Faculty in Academic Medicine: A Mixed Method Study

This mixed-method study sought to elucidate the impact of COVID-19 on the professional environments and career trajectories of midcareer research faculty in U.S. medical schools.

Participants were 40 midcareer medical school faculty enrolled in the Brandeis University C-Change Mentoring and Leadership Institute, a group peer mentoring career development course being tested in a National Institutes of Health-funded randomized controlled trial.

We observed a gender disparity in both the quantitative and qualitative data, with women faculty describing COVID-19 more negatively impacting their career trajectory. This negative impact was independent of having children in the home. Participants largely reported no change in their commitment to conducting research or interest in applying for research funding. A total of 54% of faculty reported no effect of the pandemic on their relationships with colleagues (n = 21) and 33% reported a negative effect (n = 13). A trend emerged when examining the data by degree, however, with PhD faculty about twice as likely as physicians to report a negative effect of the pandemic on their relationship with colleagues (47% n = 9 vs. 20% n = 4, respectively). The ordinal test on the 5-point scale approached statistical significance but did not meet the standard 0.05 cut-off (p value = 0.06; Z-value = -1.86).

While faculty initially reported some positive outcomes of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in their own experiences in April 2020, their experiences 1 year later reflected negative impacts of the pandemic on career trajectory, especially for women, and on relationships with colleagues, with a higher intensity signal for PhD scientists.