Gender representation in U.S. biomedical informatics leadership and recognition

Objective: This study sought to describe gender representation in leadership and recognition within the U.S. biomedical informatics community.

Materials and methods: Data were collected from public websites or provided by American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) personnel from 2017 to 2019, including gender of membership, directors of academic informatics programs, clinical informatics subspecialty fellowships, AMIA leadership (2014-2019), and AMIA awardees (1993-2019). Differences in gender proportions were calculated using chi-square tests.

Results: Men were more often in leadership positions and award recipients (P < .01). Men led 74.7% (n = 71 of 95) of academic informatics programs and 83.3% (n = 35 of 42) of clinical informatics fellowships. Within AMIA, men held 56.8% (n = 1086 of 1913) of leadership roles and received 64.1% (n = 59 of 92) of awards.

Discussion: As in other STEM fields, leadership and recognition in biomedical informatics is lower for women.

Conclusions: Quantifying gender inequity should inform data-driven strategies to foster diversity and inclusion. Standardized collection and surveillance of demographic data within biomedical informatics is necessary.