Diversity in interventional radiology: Survey of medical student interest with focus on women and members of underrepresented in medicine racial and ethnic groups

Purpose: To assess: 1) the percentage of female and underrepresented in medicine (URiM) medical students interested in interventional radiology (IR), and 2) the motivations for and deterrents from IR for female and URiM students. Methods: The study was IRB exempt. Data from a 19-item survey sent to 5 US medical schools were collected from 10/2018–01/2019 using REDCap and analyzed with SAS GLIMMIX. Results: 16% (56/346) of women and 27% (69/258) of men strongly considered IR. 21% (19/89) of URiM versus 21% (105/508) of non-URiM students, p = .88, seriously considered IR. On a 0-to-4 scale (0 = not a motivator, 4 = strong motivator), women rated “Female mentorship” “2.5” versus males' “0.4”, p < .0001, independent of IR interest URiM students uninterested in IR rated “Lack of ethnic diversity in training”“2.3” versus “1.2” for IR-interested URiM, p < .01. 18% (9/50) of IR-interested women reported adequate gender-specific mentorship in IR in medical school. Of IR-interested URiM students 5% (1/19) reported adequate ethnicity/race-specific mentorship. Conclusion: Fewer female medical students considered IR compared to males. Female mentorship was a significant motivator for women. Similar numbers of URiM and non-URiM students consider IR. Few women and URiM students report adequate gender/ethnicity/race-specific mentorship. For students not interested in IR, lack of ethnic diversity in training was a significant deterrent. Increasing numbers and visibility of female and URiM interventional radiologists in mentoring and clinical practice may improve recruitment of medical students from these underrepresented groups.