# Sponsorship and Career Advancement for Asian Medical Faculty

## TL;DR

Midlevel Asian faculty in academic medicine face barriers like cultural norms and limited access to sponsors, and the study suggests formal sponsorship programs could help address these issues.

## Contribution

This study identifies cultural and institutional barriers to career advancement for Asian faculty and proposes relationship-centered sponsorship initiatives as a novel solution.

## Key findings

- Participants reported cultural norms discouraging self-promotion and limited access to decision-makers as barriers.
- Fewer participants believed they had a sponsor after receiving a formal definition.
- Transparent nomination processes and intentional sponsor training were emphasized as potential solutions.

## Abstract

What barriers do midlevel Asian faculty members face in achieving career advancement in academic medicine, and how is sponsorship perceived as a potential solution?

In this qualitative study at a large academic medical center, 32 self-identified Asian or Asian American midlevel faculty members reported barriers, including cultural norms discouraging self-promotion, limited access to decision-makers, and unclear pathways to sponsorship. Although sponsorship was viewed as essential for advancement, fewer participants believed they had a sponsor after receiving a formal definition.

These findings suggest that academic medical institutions may need intentional, relationship-centered sponsorship initiatives to address unique advancement challenges experienced by Asian faculty members and illuminate opaque leadership pathways.

Asian faculty members remain underrepresented in leadership positions within academic medicine, despite comprising a substantial proportion of the workforce. The structural and cultural factors associated with the slower advancement remain underexplored in empirical literature and institutional policy.

To examine the barriers to career advancement among Asian faculty members, assess perceptions and understanding of sponsorship, and identify institutional strategies to promote broader access to sponsorship opportunities and leadership development.

This qualitative study employed 5 focus groups conducted between January 18 and July 17, 2024, supplemented by real-time polling before and after an educational intervention. Thematic analysis of transcripts was used to identify common barriers and recommendations, with poll data providing a descriptive context. In a single, large private nonprofit and research intensive academic medical center in the northeastern United States, self-identified Asian or Asian American midlevel faculty members at the associate professor level participated. Participants were recruited via institutional office outreach, and responses from all recruited participants were included in the study. Data were analyzed from July 25 to September 24, 2024.

An educational session distinguishing sponsorship from mentorship, followed by a facilitated group discussion and anonymous survey participation using the Poll Everywhere platform.

Primary outcomes included changes in participants’ self-reported understanding of sponsorship and identification of perceived personal, institutional, and departmental barriers to career advancement. Thematic categories were derived from focus group transcripts and corroborated with quantitative poll responses.

Of the 32 participants who completed the survey, 18 (56.3%) initially believed that they had a sponsor; after the intervention, this percentage decreased to 37.5% (12 of 32) once sponsorship was more clearly defined. The participation rate was 93.7% (30 of 32) among those who joined the focus groups. Reported barriers included cultural norms discouraging self-promotion, limited access to decision-makers, intersectional identity challenges, and perceptions of institutional opacity and favoritism. Faculty emphasized the value of transparent nomination processes, intentional sponsor training, and relationship-centered sponsorship models.

In this qualitative study of midlevel Asian faculty members, participants faced persistent, multifactorial barriers to leadership in academic medicine, amplified by cultural values and institutional norms. Institutions must formalize sponsorship programs, ensure transparent advancement pathways, and foster culturally informed leadership development. Doing so may meaningfully advance deserving Asian faculty members and diversify academic medicine’s leadership pipeline.

This qualitative study examines the barriers to career advancement among Asian faculty members, assesses perceptions and understanding of sponsorship, and identifies institutional strategies to promote broader access to sponsorship opportunities and leadership development.