Research

Women and non-white people among Lasker Award recipients from 1946 to 2022: cross sectional study

Jeremy W Jacobs, Lorin A Bibb, Elizabeth S Allen, et al

BMJ 2023; 381 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj-2023-074968 (Published 17 May 2023)Cite this as: BMJ 2023;381:e074968

Abstract

Objective To determine whether gender and racial inequities exist among Lasker Award recipients.

Design Observational, cross sectional analysis.

Setting Population based study.

Participants Recipients of four Lasker Awards from 1946 to 2022.

Main outcome measures Gender and race (non-white categorized as racialized v white categorized as non-racialized) of all Lasker Award recipients. Personal characteristics of award recipients were categorized by four independent authors using previously established methods and consistency of categorization among authors was analyzed. Women and non-white people were thought to be underrepresented among Lasker Award recipients compared with professional degree recipients overall.

Results Among 397 Lasker Award recipients since 1946, 92.2% (366/397) were men. Most award recipients were identified as white (95.7%, 380/397). One non-white woman was identified as having received a Lasker Award over the course of seven decades. The proportion of women among award recipients in the most recent decade (2013-22) is similar to the first decade of awards (1946-55; 15.6%, 7/45 v 12.9%, 8/62). The median timeframe from terminal degree receipt to Lasker Award conferral for all award recipients is 30 years. The proportion of women who received a Lasker Award between 2019 and 2022 (7.1%) was less than would be expected based on the proportion of life science doctorates awarded to womenin 1989 (30 years previously; 38.1%).

Conclusions The number of women and non-white people in academic medicine and biomedical research continues to increase, yet the proportion of women among Lasker Award recipients has not changed in more than 70 years. Additionally, time from terminal degree receipt to Lasker Award conferral does not appear to fully account for the observed inequities. These findings establish the need for further investigation of possible factors that could hinder women and non-white people from entering the pool of eligible award recipients, potentially limiting the diversification of the science and academic biomedical workforce.