Addressing disparities in academic medicine: what of the minority tax?

Abstract

BackgroundThe proportion of black, Latino, and Native American faculty in U.S. academic medical centers has remained almost unchanged over the last 20 years. Some authors credit the "minority tax"—the burden of extra responsibilities placed on minority faculty in the name of diversity. This tax is in reality very complex, and a major source of inequity in academic medicine.DiscussionThe “minority tax” is better described as an Underrepresented Minority in Medicine (URMM) faculty responsibility disparity. This disparity is evident in many areas: diversity efforts, racism, isolation, mentorship, clinical responsibilities, and promotion.SummaryThe authors examine the components of the URMM responsibility disparity and use information from the medical literature and from human resources to suggest practical steps that can be taken by academic leaders and policymakers to move toward establishing faculty equity and thus increase the numbers of black, Latino, and Native American faculty in academic medicine.

Concerning trends in allopathic medical school faculty rank for Indigenous people: 2014–2016

“…Academic medical centers should develop multifaceted strategies to address the challenges faced by Indigenous faculty. These challenges include limited information on academic career paths, lack of credit for teaching and community service, isolation, challenges in balancing Indigenous and academic cultures, and lack of role models/mentors [41]. Additionally, Indigenous faculty, like other URM faculty, experience the ‘minority tax’ and are burdened with increased institutional service commitments to help with diversity efforts, racism, and awareness of inequities [42].…”

Capsule Commentary on Warner et al., Faculty Promotion and Attrition: the Importance of Coauthor Network Reach at an Academic Medical Center

“…3 Among the solutions suggested to improve URMM representation is improving URMM networking opportunities. 3 Dr. Warner and colleagues are to be commended for quantifying this phenomenon.…”

“…3 Among the solutions suggested to improve URMM representation is improving URMM networking opportunities. 3 Dr. Warner and colleagues are to be commended for quantifying this phenomenon. Providing solid evidence and statistics, her team has made it clear that improving network reach is one solution to the problem of URMM attrition from medical faculties.…”

Underrepresented Minorities in Science: ACNP Strives to Increase Minority Representation and Inclusion

“…These obstacles may reflect a lack of effective networking opportunities, a lack of committed mentors, or differences in faculty responsibility-that is, women and URMs may be less likely to be given regular opportunities to distinguish themselves. All of these factors may ultimately make women and URMs less visible to key decision-makers (Rodriguez et al, 2014(Rodriguez et al, , 2015. Deplorably, the deck seems stacked even higher against women of color, as they are likely to face double disadvantage: that of being female and a racial/ethnic minority (Bernstein, 2015).…”