To the Editor: One in three academic psychiatrists is a woman, and 14% of senior professorial positions are occupied by women (R0400671). The professional advancement of women academic psychiatrists is an area of concern (R0400672—R0400674). Departmental grand rounds, a key part of the educational program of academic medical departments, are ideal venues to "show case faculty role models," "to educate" and "promote a collegial atmosphere" (R0400675). In view of this, adequate representation of women academic psychiatry speakers at such events could be considered important. I chose to investigate retrospective data from 3 years of grand rounds schedules at our psychiatry training program, with the hypothesis that female psychiatrists were underrepresented as speakers at this educational event. At this program, grand rounds are traditionally organized by the program director (male) and chief residents. For the academic years investigated, the chief resident primarily responsible for this task was a woman.

A retrospective look at grand rounds speakers (who were psychiatry medical faculty) for the academic years 2001—2002, 2002—2003, and 2003—2004 revealed some interesting findings. Female faculty composed 12%, 24%, and 5% of academic psychiatrist speakers in the academic years 2001—2002, 2002—2003 and 2003—2004, respectively.

In 2001, 36% of psychiatry faculty in the U.S. were women (R0400671). Analysis suggests that women may be underrepresented as grand round speakers, since they composed only 12%, 25%, and 5% of speakers for the years investigated. Possible reasons for this include lack of academic role models for women (R0400672), different practice patterns (e.g., spending more time teaching in alternate settings) (R0400673), and family responsibilities (R0400676, R0400677).

The data suggest grand rounds are still considered important in most academic medical centers (R0400678), and the pilot data presented here suggest that female faculty may be underrepresented as speakers at such events. Very little research has been published on the professional development of female academic psychiatrists in recent years, and this report has limitations in that it examines data for only one department. I am not aware of any studies in the literature examining this particular issue and encourage an extension of this work in future research. In addition, the causes for such findings should be explored in more detail.