Gender Differences Among Academic Radiation Oncology National Institutes of Health (NIH) Funding Recipients

George Mutwiri Jr; Roshini Kulanthaivelu; Joanna Yuen; Mehwish Hussain; Marc Jutras; Curtiland Deville; Reshma Jagsi; Faisal Khosa

doi:10.7759/cureus.28982

Gender Differences Among Academic Radiation Oncology National Institutes of Health (NIH) Funding Recipients

Cureus. 2022 Sep 9;14(9):e28982. doi: 10.7759/cureus.28982. eCollection 2022 Sep.

Authors

George Mutwiri Jr¹, Roshini Kulanthaivelu², Joanna Yuen², Mehwish Hussain³, Marc Jutras², Curtiland Deville⁴, Reshma Jagsi^{5

6}, Faisal Khosa²

Affiliations

¹ Radiology, University of Calgary, Calgary, CAN.
² Radiology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, CAN.
³ Public Health, Imam Abdurrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, SAU.
⁴ Radiation Oncology and Molecular Radiation Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA.
⁵ Radiation Oncology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA.
⁶ Bioethics and Social Sciences in Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA.

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of our study was to evaluate National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding recipients between 2016 and 2019 to determine if there was an association between gender, research productivity, academic rank, leadership positions, and post-graduate awards. Materials and Methods The NIH Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tools Expenditure and Results (RePORTER) website was used to retrieve data for grants in Radiation Oncology from 2016-2019. Demographics and profiles of awardees were retrieved from institutional websites, LinkedIn, and Doximity. Publication metrics were collected through the Scopus database. Mann-Whitney U tests and chi-square analyses were performed to compare and determine associations between gender and other variables. Results Three hundred and forty radiation oncology principal investigators (PIs) were included in this study, of whom 76% were men. Of the 776 total NIH grants awarded, 62% of the grants had a sole male PI and 1% had two or more PIs in which the contact PI and co-PI were women. Between the genders of PIs in this sample, there was no significant difference in highest academic rank, leadership positions (i.e., chair, director, founder, president, and other), and post-graduate honors and awards. Total publications, years of active research, h-index, and m-index were higher amongst men in the professor category but were largely similar between genders in the associate and assistant professor categories. Conclusions The results demonstrate that most NIH grants in radiation oncology were awarded to men. Strategies that increase women in radiation oncology (RO), as well as those that increase NIH grants amongst women may also increase the prevalence of women in senior academic ranks and leadership positions.

Keywords: academic medicine; gender equity; nih grants; radiation oncology; research productivity.