Jean Liew, MD, recalls the long list of women mentors who have guided her career in rheumatology.
It started during her residency, when Jennifer Barton, MD, at Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, exposed her to new ways of conducting clinical research on patient outcomes.
In fellowship, she met Lianne Gensler, MD, a leader in axial spondyloarthritis, at the annual meeting of the American College of Rheumatology. Through Dr. Gensler’s mentorship and sponsorship, she was introduced to Maureen Dubreuil, MD, at Boston University, whose research focuses on pharmacoepidemiologic approaches using large databases.
Dr. Liew currently practices rheumatology under the leadership of Tuhina Neogi, MD, a world-renowned expert in osteoarthritis and gout. “She’s my research mentor,” Dr. Liew, an assistant professor of medicine at Boston University, said in an interview.
Dr. Jean Liew
Her academic timeline reflects the powerful network and influence of women rheumatologists, who represent half of the adult rheumatology workforce in the United States. “In the research arena, many experts are women and they serve as role models and mentors to many,” Dr. Liew said.
But there’s more work to do, she and others acknowledged.
Rheumatology faces ongoing workforce shortages while struggling with a gender gap that’s closing but not as quickly as many women rheumatologists would like to see.
Dr. Vaneet Sandhu
The gap persists, despite overall gains in the field of medicine, Vaneet Sandhu, MD, a rheumatologist with Loma Linda (Calif.) University, said in an interview. Women have exceeded men as enrollees in medical colleges, reported the Association of American Medical Colleges. And yet, “our colleagues reported last year that, in academic rheumatology, women are less likely to be full or associate professors than men,” she said.
The odds of being a fellowship program director or division director is similar in both males and females. “So, we’ve had some gains, but there’s always room for more,” Dr. Sandhu said.
Too few physicians
The next 10 years forecasts a dearth in American physicians.
AAMC projects a shortage of 124,000 doctors in the United States by 2034. Following on a similar trajectory, the ACR in 2015 anticipated a 25% drop in the supply of rheumatology clinical providers by 2030, with demand exceeding supply by more than 4,100 clinical employees.
The ACR’s workforce study projected that more women would come into rheumatology, noted Marcy Bolster, MD, director of the rheumatology fellowship training program at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston. Women make up at least 50% of the workforce and 66% of fellows If these numbers hold, “we’ll definitely see an increase in the percent of women in the workforce” moving forward, Dr. Bolster said in an interview.
Dr. Nilanjana Bose
Women have helped the shortage to a great extent, said Nilanjana Bose, MD, a rheumatologist at Lonestar Rheumatology, Houston.
The work-life balance that rheumatology offers, combined with its focus on the cognitive part of internal medicine, explains why the field has attracted so many women. Rheumatology provides flexible work options. Women “get to teach or do rounds in the hospital or have a private practice where you’re mostly outpatient with some hospital work,” Dr. Bose said in an interview.
With anticipated shortages looming over the next decade, the profession needs to be cognizant of the different demands women face in their careers and how it can accommodate the workforce to meet the needs of its providers and maintain access for patients, Dr. Bolster said.
Dr. Marcy Bolster
There are many innovative ways to match the demand for access. One thought is to create shared positions. Instead of employing four full-time physicians and one person part time, have two people who are working part time, Dr. Bolster suggested. “It is also important to not only expand our workforce with advanced practice providers, but to ensure their retention in the rheumatology workforce, to improve access to care for those with rheumatic diseases.”
Increasing the number of residency positions is another step toward addressing the shortage, Dr. Sandhu offered.
Women rheumatologists should make their voices heard by contacting members of Congress to support legislation that advocates for workforce shortage solutions, “in addition to generally supporting women’s rights and growth in the workplace,” she said.