Dive Brief:
- In a study conducted by Health Resources in Action's Medical Foundation, researchers looked at 219 biopharma R&D funding applicants. They found that on average, men received $889,000 to set up their labs, compared with $350,000 for female scientists. The number of men and women in the study were equally represented.
- The study revealed that the discrepancy is even greater for PhDs, with men who have the degree receiving an average of $936,000, compared wtih $348,000 for women.
- Women only respresent 30% of funded investigators at the top levels of biomedical research.
Dive Insight:
The study revealed a huge chasm between career opportunities for women in biomedical research compared with men. The results of this study reflect the reality that women start at a funding disadvantage that affects their careers as they develop, so that when it's time to get federal funding from agencies such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH), they usually wind up with far less cash.
According to the vice president of Health Resources in Action and director of the Medical Foundation, Robert Sege, it's not immediately clear why the discrepancy exists—but he has vowed to continue researching the gender gap in biomedical research funding, with the utlimate goal of closing this gap.