January 13, 2020

Academic health institutions are at an important inflection point in this country, because competitive market forces have never been stronger and the economics of higher education are falling further under scrutiny. At the same time the data are clear: Women leaders have a proven track record of productivity and success. According to a recent UN report, women business leaders can produce upwards of 20% better return compared to their male counterparts. Yet only 34% of schools of public health have women deans. That’s remarkable, as 70% of students currently enrolled in schools of public health are women and 50% of public health school faculty are women. As is true for medical schools, overall trends in women’s leadership in schools of public health have not kept pace with the increasing number of women students in schools of public health. Clearly, with such an imbalance in gender representation at the highest level of public health school leadership, schools of public health need to do better to elevate women to a) lead these complex organizations and b) set the course for all they have to offer the future of health and medicine.

So what can be done? Well, a lot. The answers lie both within and outside the institutions themselves. Tracking metrics in gender equity is one area that organizations such as the Association of Schools & Programs of Public Health, the American Public Health Association and the Council on Education for Public Health can help. By tracking gender data from the census of the school of public health student population, the advancement of women faculty, and the ascendency of women to senior leadership positions — as for example the American Association of Medical Colleges does — we can create a data-informed process that supports diversity and inclusion.

Another answer has to do with training the next executive leaders in academic medicine. Medical schools face the same realities of slow progress in advancing women to leadership positions, and programs like the Hedwig van Ameringen Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine fellowship have helped to narrow the gap. ELAM has a 25-year history of preparing the most accomplished health professionals for the call to duty. Since 1995 ELAM has trained women leaders from the top of their health and medicine fields. In 2006, ELAM accepted its first fellows from schools of public health, and since then 86 public health fellows have completed and are now proud ELUMs of the program, and 14% of the women deans of schools of public health are ELUMs. While most of ELAM’s graduates are from schools of medicine, the skills that are learned at ELAM apply to all of us in academic health. After my first week at ELAM I realized that never in my years in academia — as an educator, researcher and leader — had I had the privilege of spending extended quality time with equally accomplished women from whom I could learn and relate. As a community of learners assembled in both large and small groups, we worked through a variety of complex exercises and projects that ranged from the ins and outs of academic health center finance to ways to integrate the four most important areas of all of our lives — work, family, self and community.

Although business has long understood the critical importance of grooming leaders for C-suite type positions, academia has shifted attention to academic leadership training only more recently. Like many academic leaders, prior to entering my first leadership role I had had practically no exposure to executive education. I’ve been surprised to discover how well researched so many aspects of organizational management and leadership already are, with decades of analysis informing leaders how to navigate complex yet common challenges such as shrinking revenue, leading through change, and creating a service-minded organizational culture.

This ELAM training opportunity offers enormous advantages for future women leaders in public health, and ongoing dissemination and promotion about the ELAM program among public health networks will be critical to get the word out. The vibrant future of public health education and research depends on diversifying the pool of qualified leaders, and ELAM will be an important driver to achieve this much-needed diversity.

Melissa Perry, ScD, MHS, ELAM '20
Milken Institute School of Public Health at the George Washington University