Faculty Recruitment and Career Development

The CMCA works with several internal institutional partners, including the Diversity Leadership Council, Office of Women’s Careers, Office of Academic Enhancement and Mentoring, Institute for Medical Education, and the Diversity in Biomedical Research Committee to expand and strengthen our current capacity to recruit faculty from underrepresented groups in medicine (URM) and increase their capability to develop themselves as successful culturally competent faculty members in academic medicine at Icahn School of Medicine.

Retention of URM faculty is equally as important and, unfortunately, equally as challenging as recruitment. Several studies have demonstrated that URM faculty members less likely to be promoted and advance in academic medicine.

Launching a successful career in academic medicine can be challenging even without institutionally-sponsored professional development support such as mentoring and formal faculty development initiatives. Faculty in academic medicine, particularly at Icahn School of Medicine, are expected to be clinicians and treat patients as well as be physician scientists which includes teaching and conducting research activities. New faculty members, particularly URM faculty, are already overwhelmed by the pressures of their new clinical roles and responsibilities and may not have the appropriate mentorship and coaching needed to develop a career in academic medicine. In response to this reality, the CMCA established the Faculty Scholars Program and a series of faculty development activities described here.