Your Infectious Disease Physician is Probably a Democrat

Data compiled by researchers at Yale and publicized by the New York Times suggests that some medical specialities, including infectious disease, lean heavily Democratic, while others such as surgery, lean heavily Republican. Only 23% of the infectious disease physicians sampled were registered with the Republican party. I am not surprised.

The report also suggests that the specialties with higher average salaries tended to have a larger percentage of registered Republicans. Also not surprising. Wealthy people are stereotypically Republican. Question is which came first? The political affiliation or the earnings? Hmmm!

Infectious disease physicians tend to be in the trenches with those patients who can’t afford basic healthcare or who belong to marginalized communities. After all many infections are diseases of poverty whether locally acquired or imported from elsewhere. That is not to say that other physicians are less altruistic. We just need national health programs like the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program and strong public health departments to exist to help our patients.

Would be interested in the why but whatever the reasons you can’t deny that the contrast of political affiliations is sharp.