3Dr. Joseph Alpert has a thought-provoking and challenging commentary in The American Journal of Medicine, March 2020 edition. He asks, “Why Are Women Underrepresented in Cardiology?” Dr. Alpert suggests that we need “to initiate more aggressive recruitment programs aimed toward women.” The American College of Cardiology (ACC) Women in Cardiology (WIC) Section Leadership Council shares Dr. Alpert’s concerns and would like to address several of the issues facing women and the initiatives that have been implemented. ACC WIC strongly believes increasing opportunities, visibility, and mentoring programs are the best ways to recruit young women into cardiology.
The ACC WIC Leadership Council has been very frustrated and concerned about the lack of growth in the numbers of women pursuing a career in cardiology, as evident in the 2 surveys published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology characterizing the professional lives of women cardiologists, which spanned over 2 decades. To better address the lack of diversity in cardiology, which includes lack of women, ACC leadership established the ACC Diversity and Inclusion Task Force in 2017. This group analyzed a 2009 survey administered to internal medicine residents in an effort to identify residents’ perceptions of a career in cardiology. The survey was published in JAMA Cardiology in 2018 as “Career Preferences and Perceptions of Cardiology Among US Internal Medicine Trainees: Factors Influencing Cardiology Career Choice.” To obtain contemporary data and assess any changes in perceptions of cardiology, this questionnaire has been revised and will be distributed to current internal medicine residents later in 2020. ACC’s goal is to develop granular solutions to strategically develop a cardiovascular physician workforce that more accurately reflects the patient population cared for by cardiologists. The ACC WIC Leadership Council is working with the Diversity and Inclusion Task Force, the Fellows in Training Section, and the Program Directors Section to increase opportunities for residents and to change this unfavorable perception of cardiology.
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-Gina Lundberg, MD, FACC, FAHA, Kamala Tamirisa, MD, FACC, FHRS, Elizabeth Le, MD, FACC, Malissa Wood, MD, FACC, FAHA, Meghan York, MD, FACC, Toniya Singh, MD, FACC
