New research shows that female physicians have been underrepresented in awards presented by the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation for nearly 50 years.
PM&R, the official journal of the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, published the study.
Researchers analyzed an online list of AAPM&R national award recipients from 1968 to 2015. The list included all awards given exclusively to physicians — a total of 264 individual awards. They also used data from the American Medical Association, Association of American Medical Colleges and AAPM&R to assess the proportion of female versus male physiatrists over time.
The study shows that award recipients were overwhelmingly male (84.1 percent), with females physicians receiving only 15.9 percent of the total awards. Between 2006 and 2015, there was an uptick in female physician award recipients to 26.8 percent.
Additionally, female physicians were more likely to receive awards if they were part of a group. They were less likely to be recognized if the award was given to only one recipient each year or involved a lectureship with an opportunity to speak at a national meeting.