Author: Emily Hansen, Tyler Kaulfers, Alois M. Ndlovu, Niara Rowe, Roland Teboh 👨🔬
Affiliation: Montefiore Einstein University Hospital, Hackensack University Medical Center 🌍
Purpose: A topic often discussed is the disparity of women in medical physics, overlooking the absence of Black and Hispanic women in the field. The intersectionality within marginalized communities is constantly disregarded, leaving women of color behind in the push for equality.
Methods: A broad understanding of the trend of women in medical physics was necessary to gain. Studying current articles and the most recent AAPM Equity Diversity and Inclusion Survey (2021) provided an introduction to the state of women of color in medical physics. An inspection of each US CAMPEP-accredited medical physics graduate program webpage was conducted to determine if diversity was mentioned. This gives perspective into the priorities of the program and provides an introduction to prospective students, including women of color.
Results: Out of all 42 US CAMPEP Accredited medical physics graduate programs, 31% mention diversity or discrimination on their medical physics homepage. Of the 31%, 8% is an HBCU, 15% explicitly discuss their focus on diversity and inclusion, and the remaining 77% have a link to the institution’s non-discrimination policy. As of 2021, 2% of all medical physicists identify as Black African American, and 2% identify as Hispanic or Latino which is alarming since Hispanic Americans are the second largest ethnic group after white Americans.
Conclusion: Finding demographic information within the medical physics community proved challenging. By now, it’s known that gender inequalities lead to discrimination, sexual harassment, isolation, etc. Bridging the gap reduces these risks and provides a well-rounded education and patient experience. The push for women of color in the field of Medical physics is crucial for an inclusive and safe work environment. A solution is to implement outreach programs to decrease the disparity of Black and Hispanic women in medical physics for upcoming generations.