Although women make up almost 80% of the healthcare workforce, their presence decreases sharply at each step of the leadership rung (see Figure 2.3). A 2025 McKinsey study of 333 companies in the United States and Canada demonstrated that in healthcare companies, women constituted 75% of entry-level employees, dropping to 61% at the senior manager or director level, 45% at the vice president level, and 32% at the C-suite level.(1) There is an important intersectionality of gender and race, with a lower percentage of women and men of color at all levels.(1,2) However, the sharp drop-off at each level of leadership occurred with women of color, not with men of color.
Figure 2.3 . The percentage of women at each level across all types of healthcare entities. Source: Berlin G, Perez L, Chen J, Sharma M, Cornelio S. A five-year review of women’s representation in healthcare. McKinsey & Company, May 19, 2025.
Nuns were the first women healthcare CEOs in this country, leading the Catholic hospitals that they established in the 1800s and early 1900s.(3) Unfortunately, that early picture of women healthcare leaders has changed significantly for the worse. A study of more than 4,300 U.S. hospitals revealed that women held fewer than 40% of the executive leadership positions, except for the position of chief nursing officer (91%) and chief human resource officer (73%).(4) Only 27% of hospital CEOs were women.(4) The percentage of women CEOs fell as hospital size increased and was lower in major teaching hospitals than in other teaching categories.(4) In 2024, only one of the 10 largest hospitals (as identified in Becker’s Hospital Review) had a woman CEO (UAB Hospital Birmingham).
A study of healthcare systems and large healthcare insurers published in 2021 showed a similar lack of women leaders.(5) In large health systems, only 15.3% of the CEOs were women, and the only positions approaching 50% or more women were the marketing/communications officer and human resource officer (CNOs were not reported).(5) This study also examined the leadership gender distribution in 108 large health insurers and revealed a strikingly similar picture. Results showed only 15.8% of the CEOs were women and only the positions of marketing/communications and human resource officer had more than 50% women.(5)
Of the five largest health insurers in 2023 by market share (United Health Group, Elevance [formerly Anthem], Centene, Humana, and CVS Health), Elevance and Centene had women as CEOs. There were no women CEOs of the top five pharmaceutical companies by revenue in 2023. Of note, as of September 2025, no woman headed a major health component of the United States government, including HHS, CMS, NIH, FDA, CDC, or the VA Health System.
Another reflection of the influence of women physicians is their role in their professional societies. Given the number of women physicians in training and in practice, one would expect women to have risen to leadership positions in certain specialty societies. In the decade from 2015 to 2025, four women served as president of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, six women served as the president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, four women served as the president of the American College of Physicians, and five served as the president of the American Academy of Family Practice.
A similar reflection of influence is editorship of journals. Overall, women were editors-in-chief of 21% of the top 10 international medical journals in 41 specialties (a total of 410 journals).(6) Just as there is variation in women’s presence in various medical specialties, their editorial leadership varied markedly from 0% to 82%.(6) The current editor-in-chief of JAMA, Dr. Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, is only the second woman in 150 years to hold that position.
A leadership role in a component of the healthcare system leads to recognition. One can get a snapshot of women leaders and their influence in healthcare from Modern Healthcare’s “Most Influential” lists. In 2009, 25 of the 100 Most Influential People in Healthcare were women; by 2025, 35 of the 100 Most Influential People were women, including four of the top 10.(7,8)
Excerpted from The Women’s Guide to Healthcare Leadership: The Why and The How American Association for Physician Leadership, 2026.
References
Berlin G, Perez L, Chen J, Sharma M, Cornelio S. A five-year review of women’s representation in healthcare. McKinsey & Company. May 19, 2025. https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/healthcare/our-insights/a-five-year-review-of-womens-representation-in-healthcare.
Berlin G, Robinson N, Sharma M. Women in the healthcare industry: an update. McKinsey & Company. March 30, 2023. https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/healthcare/our-insights/women-in-healthcare-and-life-sciences-the-ongoing-stress-of-covid-19.
Gabow P. The Catholic Church and Its Hospitals: A Marriage Made in Heaven? American Association for Physician Leadership; 2023. /products/the-catholic-church-and-its-hospitals-a-marriage-made-in-heaven-gabow.
Mose JN. Representation of women in top executive positions in general medical-surgical hospitals in the United States. Womens Health Rep. 2021;2(1):124–132. https://doi.org/10.1089/whr.2020.0111.
Odei BC, Seldon C, Fernandez M, Rooney MK, Bae J, Acheampong J, Ahmed A. Representation of women in the leadership structure of the US health care system. JAMA Netw Open. 2021;4(11):e2136358. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.36358.
Pinho-Gomes A, Vassallo A, Thompson K, Womersley K, Norton R, Woodward M. Representation of women among editors in chief of leading medical journals. JAMA Netw Open. 2021;4(9):e2123026. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.23026.
Modern Healthcare. 100 most influential people in healthcare 2009. Modern Healthcare. 2009. https://www.modernhealthcare.com/awards/100-most-influential/2009.
Modern Healthcare. 100 most influential people in healthcare 2025. Modern Healthcare. 2025. https://www.modernhealthcare.com/awards/100-most-influential/2025.
