title: Academic couples: implications for medical school faculty recruitment and retention.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Academic couples constitute 36% of the US professoriate. Universities are in the midst of a major transition in hiring practices to support these and other faculty with working partners. However, less is known about academic couples among medical school faculty and surgical specialties specifically. This study was designed to address this gap.
  
  
  METHODS
  In 2006-2007, the Michelle R Clayman Institute for Gender Research at Stanford University designed and administered the "Managing Academic Careers Survey" to nearly 30,000 full-time faculty across all academic fields at leading research universities nationwide. This study included 2,475 medical school faculty survey respondents at 12 participating institutions. Main outcomes measures were academic partner status; number of journal articles/chapters during career; and applications to other academic position(s) in last 5 years.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 73.3% of medical school faculty respondents were in dual-career partnerships (where both partners actively pursue employment) and 32.2% had an academic partner. Sixty-nine percent of academic partners were also in medical schools. Women faculty were more likely than men to have an academic partner. Among surgery faculty, 40% of women had an academic partner, as compared with 29.3% of men. In fully adjusted regression models, faculty with academic partners had higher publication counts than other faculty, and had higher odds of applying to other academic positions.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Academic couples constitute one-third of all medical school faculty. They represent a productive and potentially mobile component of the medical faculty workforce. Because women had a higher rate of academic partnering, dual-career academic hiring policies are especially important for recruitment and retention of female faculty in surgical specialties.
authors.affiliation: Office of Diversity and Leadership, Office of the Dean, Stanford University Medical School, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA, USA. sgirod@stanford.edu
authors.forename: Sabine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Girod
authors.forename: Shannon K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Gilmartin
authors.forename: Hannah
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Valantine
authors.forename: Londa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Schiebinger
mesh_terms: D000046:Academic Medical Centers / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000328:Adult; D017598:Efficiency, Organizational; D005180:Faculty, Medical / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010560:Personnel Selection / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014931:Women, Working / Q000706:statistics & numerical data