Racial and Ethnic Diversity Among Students, Graduates, and Faculty in Biostatistics and Epidemiology, 2010-2020

Abstract

Objective: This study is a follow-up to a study in 2020 that reviewed changes in the racial and ethnic composition of public health students, graduates, and faculty among Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health (ASPPH)–member institutions. In the current study, we evaluated how the racial and ethnic composition among biostatistics and epidemiology students, graduates, and faculty changed from 2010 to 2020. Methods: We analyzed data on race and ethnicity of enrolled graduate students, graduates (master’s and doctoral), and faculty at ASPPH-member institutions by using institutionally reported data from the ASPPH Data Center. We tabulated frequencies, percentages, and percentage-point changes by race and ethnicity. We measured differences between groups by using a test for difference in 2 proportions. Results: The number of enrolled students, graduates, and faculty in all departments increased during the study period, while the number of tenure-track faculty in biostatistics decreased. The percentage of enrolled Hispanic/Latino biostatistics graduate students increased from 5.6% in 2010 to 10.2% in 2020 ( P = .007), and the percentage of epidemiology graduates increased from 8.8% to 13.8% ( P = .008). We found no differences among other underrepresented racial and ethnic groups. Most biostatistics and epidemiology professors at all ranks were non-Hispanic White, despite substantial decreases. The percentage of underrepresented racial and ethnic minority biostatistics and epidemiology professors was constant across all ranks. Conclusion: Although more Hispanic/Latino students are enrolled in and graduating from biostatistics and epidemiology departments at ASPPH-member institutions, we found no change among faculty. More work is needed to recruit and retain other (American Indian/Alaska Native, Black or African American, Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander) underrepresented students and faculty.

Unpacking Public Health Implications of the 2023 Supreme Court Ruling on Race-Conscious Admissions

“…Authors of another study analyzed ASPPH environmental health departments and found slight changes over time in Black, Latinx, and Native American student enrollment (all <5 PPC from 2011 to 2021), tenured faculty (all <2 PPC from 2011 to 2021), and professor ranks (all <2 PPC from 2011 to 2021; Bather et al, 2023). In epidemiology departments, there were minor changes in Black, Latinx, and Native American student enrollment (all <2 PPC from 2010 to 2020), tenured faculty (all <3 PPC from 2010 to 2020), and professor ranks (all <2 PPC from 2010 to 2020; Goodman et al, 2022). In biostatistics departments, small changes were noted in these three racial/ethnic groups in student enrollment (all <5 PPC from 2010 to 2020), tenured faculty (all <1 PPC from 2010 to 2020), and professor ranks (all <1 PPC from 2010 to 2020; Goodman et al, 2022).…”

“…In epidemiology departments, there were minor changes in Black, Latinx, and Native American student enrollment (all <2 PPC from 2010 to 2020), tenured faculty (all <3 PPC from 2010 to 2020), and professor ranks (all <2 PPC from 2010 to 2020; Goodman et al, 2022). In biostatistics departments, small changes were noted in these three racial/ethnic groups in student enrollment (all <5 PPC from 2010 to 2020), tenured faculty (all <1 PPC from 2010 to 2020), and professor ranks (all <1 PPC from 2010 to 2020; Goodman et al, 2022).…”

“…This growing interest in analyzing racial/ethnic diversity has extended to subfields of public health such as environmental health, epidemiology, and biostatistics (Balanay et al, 2022; Bather et al, 2023; Gondwe et al, 2022; Goodman et al, 2022; Ramirez-Valles, 2021). A survey of environmental health programs accredited by the National Environmental Health Science and Protection Accreditation Council showed notable increases in Latinx undergraduate student enrollment (8 PPC from 2009 to 2020) and Black graduate student enrollment (15 PPC from 2009 to 2020; Balanay et al, 2022).…”

Re-Imagining Public Health Education: Students’ Perspectives and Considerations

“…Institutional racism that shapes unlivable conditions for diverse birthing people (e.g., unpaid maternal leave, lack of health insurance coverage, respectful and culturally appropriate care) (Crear- Perry et al, 2021) may be more accurately viewed through interlocking systems of domination (Collins et al, 2021). In addition to shifting the conversations toward deeper power asymmetries, institutions can flourish by centering students and faculty of color who encompass the irreplaceable and unteachable lived experiences to compliment alternative and critical ways of troubling systems in efforts to promote health equity (Goodman et al, 2022;Ramirez-Valles et al, 2023). In brief, institutions can support meaningful collaboration beyond the ivory tower where non-academic communities are recognized, compensated, and invested in as expert contributors of knowledge (Hinckson et al, 2017).…”

Racial and Ethnic Composition of Students, Graduates, and Faculty in Environmental Health Sciences, 2011 to 2021

“…22 Other studies exist on the racial and ethnic composition of academic programs, however, these studies focused on schools of public health 23 and departments of biostatistics and epidemiology specifically. 24 The study of schools of public health included student and graduate data from 26 Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health (ASPPH)-member institutions in 1996 and 2016, and faculty data from 27 ASPPH-member institutions in 1997 and 2017. 23 The study of departments of biostatistics (student and graduate data: n = 41 institutions, faculty data: n = 38 institutions) and epidemiology (student, graduate, and faculty data: n = 45 institutions) included data from ASPPH-member institutions in 2010 and 2020.…”