A physician workforce that reflects the demographics of the population it serves enhances cultural competency, health care accessibility, and patient-centered care, which may improve health outcomes.¹ However, the US physician workforce is not demographically representative of the US population.² We assessed gender, racial, and ethnic trends among US neurology faculty over 5 decades.

Ethics review was waived by the University of British Columbia as data were publicly available. This cross-sectional study followed the reporting guideline. US neurology department faculty demographic data were obtained from Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) US Medical School Faculty annual reports from December 1972 to December 2021. Racial and ethnic categories were based on US Census Bureau guidelines, were self-reported, and included American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Black or African American, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, White, other, and multiracial and Hispanic, Latino, or of Spanish origin. We acknowledge that race and ethnicity are social constructs influenced by cultural, geographical, and sociopolitical forces and gender exists on a broader spectrum than women and men. Trends were assessed by multivariable linear regression and subgroup differences by analysis of variance (race, ethnicity) and 2-sample t test (gender). Post hoc analyses were conducted using Tukey honestly significant difference. Analyses were completed in Excel and RStudio from February through March 2023. Two-sided P < .05 indicated significance.