M.D. Faculty Salaries in Psychiatry and All Clinical Science Departments, 1980-2006

Abstract

The authors compare trends in the salaries of physician faculty in academic departments of psychiatry with those of physician faculty in all academic clinical science departments from 1980-2006. The authors compared trend lines for psychiatry and all faculty by academic rank, including those for department chairs, by graphing inflation-adjusted (2006 dollars) Association of American Medical Colleges Faculty Survey data over the 27-year span and computing compound annual growth rates. Physician faculty salaries in both psychiatry and all departments increased between 1980 and 2006. Compared with salaries for physician faculty in all specialties, those for psychiatrists were lower and the trend lines were flatter. Salary gaps between chairs and professors increased considerably in all faculty and psychiatry departments. Salaries for academic physicians are rising, and they are keeping pace with inflation. Relatively large and growing gaps exist between psychiatry and all faculty and between chairs and professors in both psychiatry and all clinical sciences departments.