Underrepresented Minority Women Research Articles

Solidifying the minority high school student pathway: evidence from the health professions recruitment and exposure program.

The objective of this report is to provide longitudinal insights on the impact of a health professions exposure program for high school students of underrepresented backgrounds in medicine. Medical students at the University of Chicago reviewed data from their chapter of the Health Profession Recruitment and Exposure Program (HPREP) from 2016-2021 to discover trends in enrollment. This data is documented in the context of the program's mission to increase awareness of health disparities, the success of prominent alumni, and recent community efforts post-COVID-19 pandemic. Two hundred and ninety-nine high school students participated in the University of Chicago HPREP program between 2016 and 2021. Participants ranged in age from 12 to 18 years (mean = 16, SD = 1) and 74% (n = 222) were female students. Of 252 respondents, 58% (n = 147) identified as Black or African American, 31% (n = 77) identified as Latinx or of Hispanic origin, and 10% (n = 24) identified as another race or as bi-racial. Ten or fewer black male students participated in the program every year, including the 2020-2021 year in which 61 students participated. HPREP has played an important role in shaping the face of health care, especially in Chicago. The data suggests significant increases in the number of underrepresented minority women becoming physicians and serving Chicago communities in the next decade. Pathway programs for underrepresented students in medicine should be strategic in recruiting and educating future health professionals based on future workforce needs.

Time to Degree, Identity, and Grant Writing: Lessons Learned From a Mixed-Methods Longitudinal Case Study of Biosciences PhD Students

Time to degree completion is an important metric of academic progress and success for doctoral students. It is also a common way for educational stakeholders to compare programs even if the content of the degree programs varies. But what types of behaviors and experiences are associated with faster times to degree? In this study, we examine the relationship between receiving competitive research awards (e.g., grant writing) and time to degree for PhD students. We organize our analyses by student identities, specifically gender and underrepresented racial minority (URM) status, to examine differences in time to degree based on student demographics. Our dataset included students that graduated between academic years 2008 to 2009 through 2018 to 2019. We also interviewed students currently enrolled in these same programs. We find that underrepresented minority women who won competitive research awards graduate faster than all other students who also won awards but also report lower levels of advisor support. Underrepresented minority women and all underrepresented minority students who won research awards tended to graduate faster compared to other groups of students who did not win awards. Students who reported feeling supported by their advisors, most of which reflected hands-on guidance through the writing process, in the interviews were more likely to apply for grants. Combined, these results highlight that writing grants and specific types of advisor support may influence faster times to degree for biosciences PhD students. This study suggests similar introspective analyses at other institutions and databases are needed.

Group peer mentoring is effective for different demographic groups of biomedical research faculty: A controlled trial.

Improved mentoring of midcareer researchers in medical schools has been identified as an important potential avenue for addressing low vitality and high burnout rates in faculty, and the scarcity of both underrepresented minority (URM) faculty and women in biomedical research. To address the need for widescale effective mentoring, we sought to determine whether a group peer mentoring intervention (C-Change Mentoring and Leadership Institute) for early midcareer research faculty was effective for different demographic groups in a controlled trial. Thirty-five diverse early midcareer faculty and 70 propensity-matched (PM) control subjects matched to intervention subjects on a) study inclusion criteria; b) gender, race, and ethnicity, degree, rank, years of experience, publications, grants; and c) pretest survey outcome variables, participated in the intervention. The C-Change Participant Survey assessed vitality, self-efficacy in career advancement, research success, mentoring others, valuing diversity, cognitive empathy, and anti-sexism/anti-racism skills at pretest and intervention completion. Analysis using multiple regression models included outcome pretest values and indicator variables for intervention, gender, URM status, and MD vs. PhD. Hypotheses regarding differential effectiveness of the intervention by demographic group were tested by including cross-product terms between the demographic indicator variables and the intervention indicator. Missing data were addressed using chained equations to create 100 data sets. The intervention participants had significantly higher (favorable) scores than PM controls for: self-assessed change in vitality; self-efficacy for career advancement, research, and mentoring others; cognitive empathy; and anti-sexism/racism skills. The benefits of the intervention were nearly identical across: gender, URM vs non-URM faculty, and degree MD/PhD, except vitality significantly increased for non-URM subjects, and not for URM faculty. Self-assessed change in vitality increased for URM and non-URM. The intervention worked successfully for enhancing vitality, self-efficacy and cross-cultural engagement across different demographic groups of biomedical research faculty.

Examining Underrepresented Minority STEM Faculty Members’ Motivation for Research

Underrepresented minority (URM) university faculty can be identified as those whose representation based on gender, race, and/or ethnicity in particular fields, such as Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM), are smaller than in the US population. Studies on URM faculty have found discrimination and affiliated stress impact faculty in many aspects of their work, such as performance in research. In the current study, we examined STEM faculty who self-identify as URM, their experiences of workplace discrimination, and how these encounters affect their self-determined motivation to conduct research. Six-hundred and fifty-one faculty from 10 US institutions completed an online survey. Of the participants, 37.5% self-identified as URM, of which 81% were women, 20% non-white, and 6% Hispanic/Latinx ethnicity; notably, the data shows that 24% of women and 56% of non-white faculty did not self-identify as URM. More than 87% of URM reported workplace bias, which correlated with significantly lower autonomy and relatedness with coworkers. URM women reported gender discrimination at work was common and upsetting, which related to greater amotivation. Non-white and Hispanic/Latinx/Spanish URM who reported high success in research also cited more discrimination. URM faculty motivation was fostered by autonomy and competence, and much more by relatedness compared to non-URM faculty. For non-URM, autonomous motivation (enjoyment, value) positively related to research success, whereas for URM faculty a lack of introjected motivation (guilt) was the strongest predictor. Discussion focuses on implications for future studies of faculty motivation and strategies to promote URM faculty research productivity.

Inclusive Pathways to Invention: Racial and Ethnic Diversity Among Collegiate Student Inventors in a National Prize Competition

We present novel evidence from over 2,000 student inventors from colleges and universities across the United States who applied to a prestigious national prize. These unique data provide us with self-reported information about gender, race, and ethnicity for students earlier on the "pathway to invention" — young people who have already shown evidence of their inventiveness and are among those likely to be future patent holders. First, we show that 14% of prize applicants are from under-represented minority (URM) groups, which is a smaller gap than estimates of the racial/ethnic gap in patenting. We find striking differences in the focus of the inventions being created by URM inventors, particularly at the intersection of gender and race: URM men are much more likely than all other groups to work on consumer-oriented inventions and less likely to work on health care inventions. URM women are similar to non-URM students in being most likely to work on health care inventions. Differences by field of study show that URM men are more likely than other groups to come from business, and URM women are more likely to come from biological sciences. Finally, we show that slightly more URM applicants come from public research universities. A fruitful area for future research is examining the ways different types of universities support the development of URM students as inventors and contribute to URM students' continuation on the pathway to invention.

Community health worker supported hereditary cancer risk assessment in a large safety net hospital (429)

Community health worker supported hereditary cancer risk assessment in a large safety net hospital (429)

Women—particularly underrepresented minority women—and early-career academics feel like impostors in fields that value brilliance.

Women—particularly underrepresented minority women—and early-career academics feel like impostors in fields that value brilliance.

Primary Ovarian Insufficiency: Time to Diagnosis and a Review of Current Literature

Background: Prompt recognition of symptoms and subsequent diagnosis of primary ovarian insufficiency (POI) are critical given its consequences on quality of life and long-term health. Poor access to care in underrepresented minority women and/or low-income populations may contribute to delayed diagnosis. Our group previously demonstrated a dearth of board-certified reproductive endocrinology (RE) physicians providing care for Medicaid patients in New Jersey. Given the adverse effects of prolonged hypoestrogenism, we aimed to evaluate length of time to diagnosis of POI in a low-resource/low-income population presenting to an urban university-based RE clinic, as well as provide a review of the current literature. Methods: This retrospective case series included all new patients seen at the RE clinic at University Hospital in Newark, NJ from June 2014 through June 2018. POI was diagnosed in women with oligo/amenorrhea and menopausal levels of follicle stimulating hormone. The primary outcome was time to diagnosis from onset of symptoms. Results: Of 524 new patients seen, 19 (3.6%) were diagnosed with POI. Median time to diagnosis of POI from onset of symptoms was 48 months. 57.9% of our patients identified as Black and 31.6% as Hispanic. 13/19 (68.4%) reported hypoestrogenic symptoms at time of referral. 21.1% were diagnosed with Turner mosaicism. 14 of 19 patients completed DEXA scan, of which 35.7% were diagnosed with low bone mass or osteoporosis. Of those diagnosed prior to referral to RE (9/19, 47.4%), only 4 had initiated hormone therapy. Conclusions: Our study demonstrates a need for more aggressive evaluation of oligo/amenorrhea in underrepresented minority women. Prolonged time to diagnosis of POI has adverse effects, as reflected by hypoestrogenic symptoms and decreased bone mineral density. Delayed diagnosis and management of POI may be related to health care disparities facing these women and warrants action to improve access to care.

Underrepresentation of women in cardiovascular trials- it is time to shatter this glass ceiling

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in women, with underrepresented minority (URM) women experiencing the highest mortality rate. For decades, there has been an underrepresentation of women in CVD trials. Although more recent studies have increased the number of women enrolled in these trials, systematic reviews have demonstrated that this enrollment is still low. The National Institute of Health along with other agencies have boosted their efforts to increase enrollment of women and URM populations in CVD trials. Despite these efforts, there still remains a gap. This paper reviews the magnitude, implications and causes of the underrepresentation of women in CVD trials. A proposed multifaceted approach to solving this issue is also outlined in this commentary. Hopefully, implementation of these proposed solutions may facilitate the increase of women, including URM women, enrolled in CVD trials. It is anticipated that this will improve CVD outcomes in these patients.

Obstacles to Sustaining Diversity: Historical Context and Current Experiences of Underrepresented Minority Women and Men in Sociology and Economics

White men predominate in the top ranks of the professorate, but recent efforts have attempted to decrease inequality and increase diversity in the academy by hiring more faculty, especially women of color. Have equality and diversity efforts worked or has negative departmental climate limited efforts to make diversity sustainable? Despite the long history of and many contributions by women of color (URC) as public intellectuals, activists, and founders of organizations to promote Blacks and Latino/a people, we find that much of their work is still marginalized and is not viewed as legitimate science. This treatment may lessen the ability to increase equality and sustain diversity in academic institutions. The paper tests whether URC women scholars are still experiencing inequalities in comparison to their male peers of color in two disciplines, that of sociology and economics. We include these two disciplines because of similarities in origin and of topics. First, we hypothesize that women of color have significantly more negative experiences in sociology and economics departments than do men of color, when other conditions are held constant. Second, we hypothesize that structural conditions, are related to experiential outcomes for these scholars. Third, we hypothesize that participation in minority-oriented organizations improves women of color’s experiences. Fourth, we hypothesize that interacting gender with participation in minority-oriented organizations, significantly improves women of color’s situation. The study results show that women of color continue to experience greater problems of access, marginality, inclusion, and harassment in sociology and economics departments. The sustainable development goals of achieving gender equality and increase educational opportunities cannot be achieve without addressing these inequities and inclusion issues.

Supplemental Material for Women—Particularly Underrepresented Minority Women—and Early-Career Academics Feel Like Impostors in Fields That Value Brilliance

Supplemental Material for Women—Particularly Underrepresented Minority Women—and Early-Career Academics Feel Like Impostors in Fields That Value Brilliance

Diversity in Economics Seminars: Who Gives Invited Talks?

Invited seminar talks are a primary way that economists get feedback on their work, disseminate their research, and build their professional networks. In this paper, we present descriptive evidence on who gave invited seminar talks in economics. We use a balanced panel of 66 departments between August 2014 and December 2019, focusing on the gender and underrepresented minority (URM) status of the speakers. We find that 76 percent of the talks in our sample were given by non-URM men, 23 percent by non-URM women, and less than 1 percent each by URM men and URM women. These averages mask substantial heterogeneity across departments.

Increasing Diversity in Radiology and Molecular Imaging: Current Challenges.

This paper summarizes the 2020 Diversity in Radiology and Molecular Imaging: What We Need to Know Conference, a three-day virtual conference held September 9–11, 2020. The World Molecular Imaging Society (WMIS) and Stanford University jointly organized this event to provide a forum for WMIS members and affiliates worldwide to openly discuss issues pertaining to diversity in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The participants discussed three main conference themes, “racial diversity in STEM,” “women in STEM,” and “global health,” which were discussed through seven plenary lectures, twelve scientific presentations, and nine roundtable discussions, respectively. Breakout sessions were designed to flip the classroom and seek input from attendees on important topics such as increasing the representation of underrepresented minority (URM) members and women in STEM, generating pipeline programs in the fields of molecular imaging, supporting existing URM and women members in their career pursuits, developing mechanisms to effectively address microaggressions, providing leadership opportunities for URM and women STEM members, improving global health research, and developing strategies to advance culturally competent healthcare.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11307-021-01610-3.

Math and Science Identity Change and Paths into and out of STEM: Gender and Racial Disparities

Researchers emphasize the role of math and science identities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. However, little is known about whether these identities might evolve during college; likewise it is not known how changes in math and science identities are associated with switching majors between STEM and non-STEM fields. This study addresses these questions. With data from the Pathways through College Study, this study revealed that science identity changes matter more than math identity changes in their association with the decision to switch majors. Most notably, underrepresented racial minority women are the most vulnerable in terms of decreasing science identity and the associated probabilities of leaking out of STEM. The authors also find evidence that Asian students are the least sensitive to their science identity drop. These findings have significant policy implications with regard to STEM choice and attainment.

Self-reported barriers to accessing infertility care: patient perspectives from urbangynecology clinics.

(1) To test the hypothesis that under-represented minority women, including Hispanic/Latina and African American or Black women, will be more likely to report greater socioeconomic and cultural barriers to infertility care compared with white women. (2) To identify gaps in knowledge that can guide future educational interventions. A cross-sectional survey was completed by 242 women, ages 18-44, at five gynecology clinics in the greater Boston, Massachusetts area from February 27, 2018, to February 25, 2019. Of the respondents, 61.4% identified as Hispanic/Latina, 24.5% as white, and 6.6% as Black or African American. Cost was the most commonly reported barrier to care (62.8%) regardless of race/ethnicity or insurance status. Only 8.9% of participants were aware of personal insurance coverage for infertility treatment. Compared with white patients, Hispanic/Latina patients were less likely to know if their own insurance covered infertility treatment: 14.3% vs 6.8%; aRR 0.36 (95% CI 0.17-0.74), after adjusting for apersonal history of infertility. Cost was the most commonly reported barrier to care. Most women were unaware oftheir insurance coverage despite the state insurance mandate to cover infertility treatment in Massachusetts. Education and outreach will be instrumental in helping address disparities in access to care.

Amplifying Voices: Investigating a Cross-Institutional, Mutual Mentoring Program for URM Women in STEM

Underrepresented minority women in STEM comprise the faculty group most likely to leave academia. To address this issue we instituted a program called “Amplifying Voices,” a virtual, mutual mentoring program linking four groups of six women across 20 institutions. We facilitated bi-weekly Zoom meetings for two years and evaluated the effectiveness of the program. Participants reported reduced isolation, increased confidence, and enhanced self-efficacy. The groups were considered most successful when comprised of women who had similar career goals, but different perspectives, experiences, academic ranks and institutional affiliations. To inform future mentoring efforts, we identified issues and strategies frequently discussed in meetings.

The Women's Health Initiative: A Landmark Resource for Skeletal Research Since 1992.

The Women's Health Initiative (WHI) is a large longitudinal study designed to investigate strategies for the prevention and control of common chronic diseases in postmenopausal women, including cardiovascular disease, cancer, and osteoporotic fractures. The WHI consisted of three overlapping clinical trials of hormone therapy, diet modification to reduce total dietary fat, and calcium/vitamin D supplementation. Women who were ineligible for the hormone therapy or diet modification trials or not interested were invited to participate in the observational study. Women were recruited into WHI from 1993 to 1998 at 40 US clinical centers. WHI enrolled 26,046 underrepresented minority women and 135,762 white women. Women could participate in each trial if eligible. The final enrollment included 27,347 women in the hormone trial; 48,835 women in the diet modification trial; 36,282 women in the calcium/vitamin D trial, and 93,676 in the observational study. After the main study ended in 2005, women were invited to continue follow-up for exposures and outcomes through two extensions to 2020. Proposals were recently submitted to continue follow-up through 2027. Information was collected on an extensive number of risk factors for fractures at baseline and over the follow-up, including fall and fracture history, weight patterns, comorbidities, diet, reproductive history, medications, anthropometry, and biomarkers. Bone mineral density was measured at three WHI clinical centers (n = 11,020) chosen to maximize race/ethnic diversity. WHI encourages outside investigators to make use of the publicly available WHI data and to access the biobank of specimens (www.whi.org). © 2020 American Society for Bone and Mineral Research.

An educational intervention to improve women's academic STEM outcomes: Divergent effects on well-represented vs. underrepresented minority women.

The aim of this field experiment was to test the effect of a social psychological intervention on an ethnically diverse sample of first-year college women majoring in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). We hypothesized that grade point averages in STEM courses would be higher in the intervention condition relative to the control condition. Furthermore, we tested competing hypotheses about the moderating role of belonging to either a well-represented (WR) or underrepresented minority (URM) ethnic group in STEM. The sample (N = 199) included 115 women from WR ethnic groups and 84 women from URM ethnic groups who were randomly assigned to condition. Women in the intervention were educated about the harmful impact of gender stereotypes in STEM and provided with effective strategies for coping with stereotype threat. At the end of their first year, we obtained participants' academic transcripts. At the end of their first year in college, URM women in the intervention condition had higher grade point averages in their STEM courses than URM women in the control condition. The intervention had no effect on WR women. The present research demonstrates the importance of intersectional approaches to studying the experiences of women in STEM. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Women in Aviation: A Phenomenological Study Exploring the Needs and Wants Necessary for Graduation

Despite the increased awareness of gender and race equality movements, today's population of minority women in aviation is still underrepresented. This research focused on underrepresented minority women who want to pursue a career in the aviation field and what factors affect their level of success in a specialized aviation higher education institution. There is not enough data and research surrounding the topic of minority women in aviation and their paths to success in these institutions. This qualitative research aimed to bridge the existing gap in the literature related to minority women in aviation and their needs and wants to complete a four-year degree. The research objective was to raise awareness for equality of race and gender in aviation higher education institutions and explore the needs and wants that could lead to academic success for minority women. The qualitative research design brought in six students who identify as a minority woman defined by conditions set upon by the researchers, and they were asked a list of questions in a semi-structured interview format. The qualitative data collected from in-depth interviews helped identify significant aspects and patterns that minority women in aviation recognize as needs and wants that could lead to academic success. Open communication, friendship and community, and positive faculty support were identified as the perceived needs and wants of minority female students in aviation. These findings can be used to better serve underrepresented students in an aviation specialized higher education institution. In conclusion, the findings can be used to bring awareness on an issue that is not widely studied or discussed in educational aviation institutions.

Supporting underrepresented minority women in academic dermatology.

The lack of underrepresented minorities in medicine (UIM) in dermatology has been well established, but the challenges faced by UIM women in dermatology have not yet been explored. UIM women belong simultaneously to more than one underrepresented group and therefore face complex challenges that are common to women and underrepresented minorities. Yet, the literature that focuses explicitly on UIM women as a group is scarce. This commentary provides insight into some of the challenges faced by UIM women in academic dermatology and provides specific recommendations to support these women through mentorship, professional development, and legitimization of their contributions to institutional diversity and service efforts.