title: Plenty of moustaches but not enough women: cross sectional study of medical leaders.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To draw attention to sex related disparities in academic medical leadership by investigating the representation of female leaders compared with leaders with moustaches.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross sectional analysis.
  
  
  METHODS
  Academic medical departments in the United States.
  
  
  METHODS
  Clinical department leaders (n=1018) at the top 50 US medical schools funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
  
  
  METHODS
  The proportions of female leaders and moustachioed leaders across institutions and specialties (n=20). Additionally, the moustache index: the proportion of women compared with the proportion of moustaches, analyzed with multinomial logistic regression models.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Women accounted for 13% (137/1018) of department leaders at the top 50 NIH funded medical schools in the US. Moustachioed leaders accounted for 19% (190/1018). The proportion of female department leaders ranged from 0% (0/20) to 26% (5/19) across institutions and 0% (0/53) to 36% (19/53) across specialties. Only seven institutions and five specialties had more than 20% of female department leaders. The overall moustache index of all academic medical departments studied was 0.72 (95% confidence interval 0.58 to 0.90; P=0.004). Only six of 20 specialties had more women than moustaches (moustache index >1).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Moustachioed individuals significantly outnumber women as leaders of medical departments in the US. We believe that every department and institution should strive for a moustache index ≥1. Known, effective, and evidence based policies to increase the number of women in leadership positions should be prioritized.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, US.
authors.forename: Mackenzie R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Wehner
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, US.
authors.forename: Kevin T
authors.initials: KT
authors.lastname: Nead
authors.affiliation: Berkeley Law, University of California Berkeley, CA 94720, US linose@derm.ucsf.edu.
authors.forename: Katerina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Linos
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, University of California San Francisco, 2340 Sutter Street, San Francisco CA 94143, US linose@derm.ucsf.edu.
authors.forename: Eleni
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Linos
mesh_terms: D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005180:Faculty, Medical / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007857:Leadership; D008297:Male; D008486:Physician Executives / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010822:Physicians, Women / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012577:Schools, Medical / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D017678:Sex Distribution; D014481:United States