n recent years, there has been an increase in the number of female physicians. The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) reported that the percentage of women in the physician workforce has increased from 28.3% in 2007 to 36.3% in 2019. 1 This increase in representation is reflected in the field of ophthalmology with a female representation of 14% to 17% in the early 2000s increasing to 25% in 2020. 2 Despite this increase, significant disparities still exist in academic rank, productivity, faculty retention and promotion, and compensation. 3,4 Studies have demonstrated substantial salary inequities among men and women, especially in surgical and procedural subspecialties. 5 Ophthalmology is not an exception. In fact, a study by Jia et al 3 demonstrated that female ophthalmologists were compensated significantly less than their male counterparts in the first year of practice. Proposed explanations suggested differences in years in practice, number of hours worked, practice type, and fertility choices; however, disparities persisted even when analyses controlled for these factors. 3 Although previous studies evaluated sex disparities in remuneration of early career physicians and physicians in the private sector, there is a lack of data on the status of ophthalmologists in academic centers, which generally follow different compensation models. 6 Moreover, many of these studies used self-reported incomes or Medicare or Medicaid payments, which represent only a portion of physician salary, hence limiting the generalizability of the findings. 7 In this study, we evaluated whether male and female academic ophthalmologists are paid differently and compared results with other specialties, using a large database of physician compensation reported by the US academic centers.
MethodsThis study adhered to the tenets of the Declaration of Helsinki. The institutional review board determined that review was not required because the research was not considered IMPORTANCE Representation of women in medicine and ophthalmology has increased in recent years. However, substantial inequities still exist between salaries for male and female physicians.OBJECTIVES To evaluate the status of disparities in compensation among US academic ophthalmologists and compare compensation across specialties.
DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTSThis cross-sectional study analyzed data for full-time academic physicians practicing in 154 accredited US medical schools. Data from the Association of American Medical Colleges Faculty Salary Report for fiscal year 2019-2020 were used to evaluate disparities in total compensation for female and male academic ophthalmologists.