We congratulate Dr. Ziring and her Chair for negotiating a change to part-time status. Many women drop out of academia to find feasible ways to juggle the responsibilities of motherhood and medicine, resulting in a loss of potential creativity and productivity for academic institutions. Others, in their endeavor to be all things to all people, become so frustrated that the negatives outweigh the positives.

Several medical schools are developing policies to accommodate faculty who prefer to work less than 100% for a given period. The model described by Drs. Tesch and Nattinger is a good example. The faculty of George Washington University School of Medicine has approved similar "full professional effort" provisions (Keimowitz R. Personal Communication). Also, Yale University School of Medicine allows tenure track faculty to work less than 100%, extending the usual 10-year probationary period to a maximum of 13 years (Waxman M. Personal Communication). The University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine allows a similar extension for tenure-track faculty (Parris M. Personal Communication).

We hope that Deans and Department Chairs will adapt their faculty policies to allow their energetic junior female faculty members to contribute their best to academic medicine; both male and female students need these role models. Moreover, our findings that men are more likely to hold part-time positions mean that improved part-time policies will benefit them as well.