Measuring the impact of a leadership in academic medicine program on faculty advancement and leadership attainment

In 2003, the Indiana University School of Medicine launched the Leadership in Academic Medicine Program (LAMP), a cohort-based leadership program for early-career faculty. This study evaluated the program's effectiveness in faculty retention, promotion, and attainment of leadership roles.

The authors identified early-career faculty hired at the assistant professor rank between 2000 and 2017 who were eligible for LAMP (2003-2017). Propensity score matching was used to create comparable groups of LAMP participants and matched controls (nonparticipants) based on track, department type, age at hire, hire year, sex, and underrepresented in medicine status. Survival analyses, including Kaplan-Meier curves and Cox proportional hazards models, were conducted to compare time to promotion and faculty departure between the matched groups. Logistic regression was used to evaluate differences between groups and their likelihood of achieving leadership roles.

Among the 1,329 early-career faculty included in the study, 443 LAMP participants demonstrated higher rates of promotion (hazard ratio [HR], 1.57; 95% CI, 1.31-1.88; P < .001) and significantly lower rates of departure (HR, 0.72; 95% CI, 0.60-0.85; P < .001) compared with 886 matched controls. Additionally, LAMP participants were significantly more likely to attain a leadership role (odds ratio [OR], 2.02; 95% CI, 1.49-2.73; P < .001). The positive impact of LAMP was especially pronounced among nontenure-track faculty, with notable improvements observed in promotion, retention, and leadership attainment. Although both male and female faculty benefited from participation, women had particularly increased odds of securing leadership positions (OR, 2.49; 95% CI, 1.59-3.87; P < .001).

Participation in LAMP significantly improved promotion rates, retention, and leadership attainment, particularly for nontenure-track and female faculty. These findings demonstrate the program's effectiveness in supporting faculty development and career advancement.