The Women in Academic Medicine (WAM) group was established to consider how best to tackle the relative lack of women in academic medicine compared with medicine generally, and the apparent lack of comparable career progression.

The group provides a forum for discussion of issues affecting women working in academic medicine and helps inform the BMA’s policy and advocacy in this area.

Our priorities

Career Progression in Academic Medicine Survey

WAM is currently undertaking a survey exploring career progression in academic medicine, including barriers to advancement, leadership opportunities, mentoring, workplace culture and factors that support career development.

The findings will help inform future BMA policy and advocacy on improving academic careers and supporting a diverse and inclusive academic workforce.

Take our survey

In the last BMA session, WAM has:

• Initiated a UK-wide survey on career progression in academic medicine to better understand barriers to advancement and identify opportunities to improve support for academic careers.

• Explored issues affecting recruitment, retention and progression within academic medicine, including leadership opportunities, mentoring, workplace culture and equality, diversity and inclusion.

• Considered evidence on sexism, sexual harassment and violence affecting women in medicine and medical education.

• Published a co-chairs' blog marking White Ribbon Day, highlighting the need for action to tackle sexism and sexual violence in medical schools.

• Provided a forum for members to discuss emerging issues affecting academic medicine and medical education, helping to inform BMA policy and advocacy.

Recent WAM events

International Women’s Day Webinar

In March 2026, WAM hosted an International Women’s Day webinar on Ending sexism, sexual harassment and violence against women in the medical and legal professions. The webinar brought together speakers from medicine and law to discuss workplace culture, reporting mechanisms, accountability and practical actions to create safer environments.

Women in Academic Medicine Breakfast Meeting

On 12 June 2026, WAM hosted a breakfast meeting alongside the BMA Medical Academics Conference. Chaired by Dr Caroline Jolley, WAM co-chair, the session featured Professor Scarlett McNally OBE as guest speaker and brought together medical academics to discuss career progression, leadership and workplace culture in academic medicine.

The meeting provided an opportunity for attendees to share experiences, discuss current challenges facing women in academic medicine and help inform WAM's future work, including its Career Progression in Academic Medicine Survey.

Get involved

WAM welcomes engagement from doctors involved in academic medicine, research, education and clinical teaching who wish to contribute to discussions on equality, career progression and improving workplace culture within academic medicine.

To find out more about WAM and its work, please contact [email protected].

Our people

Co-Chairs: Dr Sarah Mills and Dr Caroline Jolley

Deputy Chair: Dr Angharad Davies

Our meetings

Meeting dates: 

• TBC

All meetings will take place virtually except for the conference which will be a hybrid event based at:

BMA House
Tavistock Square
London
WC1H 9JP

Conference

In 2021, the WAM group held its first virtual roundtable meeting at the BMA Medical Academics Conference. 

Aiming at celebrating women in academic medicine, and raising awareness of the common hurdles they face, the event panel focused its attention on:

• Role models - Carmen Soto introduced the role models document and the reasons behind it: the alarming data on the exit of women from academic medicine, and a growing need for role models to tackle this. Published for International Women’s Day, the document highlights the importance of having a diverse workforce that fully represents the society in which it works
• Teachers, educators and researchers - part of the wider work on participation in research. Funding and the Research Excellence Framework are key factors facing researchers alongside the importance of doctors identifying themselves as educators, and the need for more dedicated teachers to respond to the growing number of medical students
• Career progression - part-time and home-workers are often less likely to be promoted, having a direct impact on representation from women and minorities in the workforce. Members are encouraged to call out any lack of representation in meetings.

The WAM group, together with the Medical academic staff committee, will continue working on these priorities. 

Watch the webcast

Get in touch

If you are interested in finding out more about WAM, please contact [email protected].