More women surgeon scientists receive NIH funding than in 2010, yet gender gaps remain

More women surgeon scientists received NIH funding in 2020 than in 2010, but disparities remained in the proportion of women in the surgical workforce compared with those funded by the NIH, according to a study published in JAMA Surgery.

“Funding disparities based on demographic variables, especially gender, have garnered great attention during the past decade,” Martha A. Zeiger, MD, FACS, director of the Office of Surgeon Scientist Programs at NIH’s Center for Cancer Research, told Healio. “However, current literature on the status of women surgeon scientists remains conflicting, with disparate claims indicating either a persistently wide gender gap or a level playing field for men and women.”

Findings

Zeiger and colleagues reviewed the iSearch Grants database including NIH-funded surgeons and used active physician data from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) to calculate NIH-funded surgeons and total U.S. surgeon populations in June 2010 or June 2020.

The number of women among the total number of surgeons who received NIH grants and the total grant amounts awarded to them served as the main outcome.

Overall, researchers identified 715 surgeons (81% men) funded by the NIH in 2010 compared with 1,031 (74.6% men) funded in 2020.

The percentage of men funded by the NIH increased from 0.5% to 0.73% whereas the proportion of women funded by the NIH increased from 0.49% to 0.66%.

Additionally, women comprised 25.4% of surgeons with funding in the U.S. in 2020 but received only 21.7% of total NIH funding awarded to all women surgeon scientists.

However, the number of women surgeons who received NIH funding was significantly increased from 19% in 2010 to 25.4% in 2020 (P < .001). The funding awarded to women surgeons also increased from $75.9 million (12.3%) of total grant amounts in 2010 to $189.7 million (21.7%) in 2020 (P < .001).

Conversely, the number of men surgeons decreased from 81% in 2010 to 74.6% in 2020 (P < .001), and funding awarded to men surgeons also decreased from $538.8 million (87.7%) of total grant amounts in 2010 to $682.7 million (78.3%) in 2020 (P < .001).

“According to the AAMC numbers, women make up 27% of the surgeon workforce, so the percentage of funded women surgeons compared to men is comparable,” Zeiger said. “The fact that the number of funded women surgeons and their total grant costs are both growing is quite encouraging.”

Results further showed similarities in mean number of R01 grant application attempts between women and men K grant holders before success (2.7 vs. 2.3) and similar K-to-R award conversion rates (23.5% vs. 26.7%).

“When we examined the ratio of those holding basic science grants, men held significantly more grants in basic science research than women,” Zeiger said. “However, over the past decade, research funding for women increased across all research types.”

‘A moment in time’

Research funding likely lags as more women enter the surgical field, according to Zeiger.

“Their proportions relative to men are growing, and men have been in the field longer,” she said. “Likely, more men have funding because they have been in surgery longer than many women. We are seeing a moment in time and not a steady state.”

Zeiger said that although the improvements made in this area are encouraging, the ongoing gender gaps in NIH funding need to be addressed.

For more information:

Martha A. Zeiger, MD, FACS, can be reached at martha.zeiger@nih.gov.