Despite strides in gender equality for medical school admissions, women continue to be under-represented as cardiovascular specialists and this extends to leadership roles for cardiovascular clinical trials. A position statement by the Global CardioVascular Clinical Trialists Forum and Women as One Scientific Expert Panel – published June 3 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology – calls for the clinical trial enterprise to be restructured to include a broader range of ideas, voices and interests and to address the structure and processes leading to the gender gap.

Harriette G.C. Van Spall, MD, MPH, et al., present an actionable road map of strategies targeted to early-career researchers, scientists, academic institutions, professional societies, industry sponsors, granting agencies and journals to close the gender gap and empower under-represented groups in cardiovascular clinical research. They provide metrics to gauge progress in each sphere.

The authors discuss how systemic sexism reinforces the lack of diversity in clinical trial leadership and ultimately leads to fewer opportunities, less recognition, and a lower likelihood of promotion for women in cardiology. Women represent only one in 10 lead authors of cardiovascular clinical trials published in high-profile medical journals.

Diversity in clinical trial leadership is beneficial not only for cardiovascular professionals, but is also important to "increase innovation; decrease 'group think'; and answer questions relevant to diverse populations and "increase the external validity of studies." This diversity also contributes to tailoring recruitment and retention strategies to patients' cultural norms, resources and health literacy.

"We must adopt transformative strategies to harness the strengths of women as cardiovascular clinical trial leaders and deconstruct the sexism that has been normalized in the clinical trial enterprise," the authors write. "The research enterprise, which propels men into positions of leadership, must be transformed by multilevel actions into one that provides equal opportunity to women who have the skillset, funding, and capacity to lead clinical trials but do not fit the prevailing face of leadership."

The ACC and its Diversity & Inclusion Initiative is now accepting applications for the 2022 cohort of the Clinical Trial Research: Upping Your Game. The professional development program is aimed to teach cardiologists and PhD-trained researchers about clinical trials research, facilitate networking with nationally recognized clinical trialists and industry leaders, and help participants produce a personal career action plan. The program's goal is to increase the number of individuals historically underrepresented in cardiology who serve as leaders in cardiovascular clinical trials. Applications are due by July 16. Learn more.

Clinical Topics: Cardiovascular Care Team

Keywords: Leadership, Sexism, Specialization, Benchmarking, Health Literacy, Sex Factors, Schools, Medical, Organizations, Universities, Research, Research Personnel

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