A New STFM Fellowship to Develop Scholarship in URM Faculty
February 1, 2021—STFM is pleased to announce the launch of the Leadership through Scholarship Fellowship for underrepresented in medicine (URM) minority faculty, starting in June 2021.
This fellowship represents one facet of STFM's commitment to increase and support URM minority faculty and scholars. URM faculty members collectively make up only 9.4% of medical school faculty while representing more than 33% of the national population.1,2
Far too often, in addition to their disproportionate clinical burdens, early career minority faculty are added to committees at their institutions at the sacrifice of devoting time to developing their skills in scholarship and publishing, which adversely affects career advancement.3 At the same time, they must navigate a system rife with systemic racism.
This fellowship addresses these concerning trends, with a focus on developing introductory scholarship building skills, as well as providing mentoring and personalized career development strategies.
A pilot of this fellowship, developed by STFM members José Rodriguez, MD, Kendall Campbell, MD, and Judy Washington, MD, launched in May 2019, funded by the STFM Foundation. Through the fellowship, seven junior URM faculty received personalized coaching and mentorship by experienced URM faculty to identify data sources; analyze data; and write, present, and publish scholarly products.
Funding from a generous ABFM Foundation grant for the STFM URM Initiative has made it possible to sponsor fellowship costs and related travel for up to 14 fellows for the 2021 class.
Since scholarly activity is a pathway to promotion, tenure, and leadership, faculty and peer mentors will guide and sponsor the junior scholars through leadership opportunities and assist them in their preparation to lead in academic medicine. Two annual in-person meetings are supplemented by regular virtual meetings and peer support.
“Scholarship doesn't just happen - skills need to be taught and developed,” said Edgar Figueroa, MD, MPH, Chair of the STFM URM Initiative, “and so I am thrilled STFM has created this fellowship to teach these skills and to build the URM faculty leaders we need.”
For more information and to apply, visit the fellowship page.
1. census.gov. Quick Facts United States. 2019; https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US. Accessed February 16, 2021.
2. Diversity of the Physician Workforce: Facts and Figures 2018. 2018; http://aamcdiversityfactsandfigures.org/. February 16, 2021.
3. Rodríguez JE, Campbell KM, Pololi LH. Addressing disparities in academic medicine: what of the minority tax? BMC Med Educ. 2015;15(1):6.
