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Former Dean Richard V. Homan, ELAM alumnae and others talk about the impact of the ELAM program on them and their institutions
Established in 1995, ELAM offers an intensive one-year program of leadership training with extensive coaching, networking and mentoring opportunities aimed at expanding the national pool of qualified women candidates for leadership in academic medicine, dentistry and public health.
Despite the greater numbers of women matriculating at our nation’s medical, dental and public health schools, women are still significantly underrepresented within the topmost administrative ranks of academic health centers (AHCs), even though there is a widely acknowledged need to diversify leadership and improve cultural and gender sensitivity in healthcare training and delivery. Placing more women in positions of senior leadership at AHCs will provide important new perspectives for decision making and help speed the curricular, organizational and policy changes needed to ensure a more effective, representative and responsive healthcare system.
The ELAM program has been specially developed for senior women faculty at the associate or full professor level who demonstrate the greatest potential for assuming executive leadership positions at academic health centers within the next five years. While attaining higher levels within the AHC executive ranks is the program’s primary focus, ELAM encourages its graduates to pursue the full diversity of roles that offer opportunities for leadership within their organizations.
The effectiveness of ELAM's distinctive approach to leadership preparation is broadly recognized within the academic health community, with more than 90 percent of U.S. medical schools and 60 percent of U.S. dental schools represented among the program's graduates. 51 schools have had 5 or more fellows and 11 schools have had 10 or more.
ELAM graduates now number nearly 700 and serve in numerous leadership positions – department head through university president – at nearly 145 U.S. and Canadian academic health centers. Currently, 6 of the 19 women deans at U.S. medical schools, 7 of the 13 women deans at U.S. dental schools, and 2 of the 14 women deans at U.S. public health schools are ELAM alumnae.
Acceptance into ELAM is determined through an annual competitive selection process, in which approximately 54 candidates are chosen each year.
For more information on ELAM and the application process, check out our FAQs.
ELAM® is a core program of the Institute for Women's Health and Leadership® at Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pa.