BLOG: A randomized controlled trial, n = 2
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For 20 years, I have been living in a randomized controlled trial with a sample size of two.
The independent variable by which my coparticipant and I were randomly assigned in the mid-1970s is the presence of a second X chromosome vs. the privilege of a Y chromosome.
The dependent variables observed have included both qualitative and quantitative measures related to being physicians in academic medicine, ranging from leadership opportunities and academic promotion to salary. The primary outcome we will examine today was the seminal time-to-event outcome of academic promotion, which was the first time I fully appreciated the professional impact of our different treatment groups.
My husband and I met as undergraduates, where we were both premed. We happened to sit next to each other in a statistics class senior year. We joke that he asked me on a date with the dad-joke forerunner, “What are the odds you’ll go out with me?”
Fast forward a decade, with a wedding squeezed in at the beginning of our 4th year of medical school, we strode through our chosen residency and fellowships, with my pausing momentarily to give birth to our son at the end of fellowship. Then began our faculty journeys at the same institution. We worked hard, taking care of hundreds of patients, writing papers and grants, juggling shared calendars and nannies and vying for book-reading time with our toddler.
Our paths differed somewhat, with mine more focused on research and his on institutional leadership and clinical program development. But we walked in parallel, both briefly instructors, then moving up to assistant professors. The evident differences in our experiences, such as salary and leadership opportunities, seemed easily explained by our different chosen fields and focuses.
Read the full blog post at Women in Medicine Summit.
For more information:
Tanya Wildes, MD, is a hematologist/oncologist and geriatrician based in St. Louis, MO. She can be reached on Twitter @tanyawildes.
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