Predictors of achievement in academic medicine.

Abstract

To the Editor. —The authors of the recent article Early Predictors of Career Achievement in Academic Medicine 1 urged selection and funding committees to examine three means to enhance the nation's yield of successful clinician-investigators: scholastic performance in medical school (including membership in AOA [Alpha Omega Alphal]), research experience in medical school, and the number of early publications in making recommendations and decisions. While these suggestions appear perfectly reasonable, we are concerned that these conclusions, drawn from an all-male, predominantly white sample, might, in fact, harm our efforts to increase the representation of women and students of color in academic medicine. We are not convinced that this study is adequate to describe the path to academic success for nonmale, nonwhite students. The authors are careful to note that their sample is drawn from male graduates of a single medical school. The racial composition of their sample is not described, but