S. J. Soelling1, M. Sulciner1, L. V. Saadat1, S. Wrenn3, R. Gartland2, J. B. Liu1, N. L. Cho1 1Brigham And Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA 2Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA 3Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL, USA
Introduction:
While female representation is increasing among general surgery residents over time, gender disparities persist at the faculty and leadership level in academic surgery. Prior studies have reported gender disparity in academic scholarship, award recognition, and leadership representation within the American Association of Endocrine Surgeons (AAES), as well as gender disparities in Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) surgical subspecialty fellow enrollment. Given these previous findings, we aimed to evaluate gender representation within the United States AAES fellowship programs at the fellow, faculty, and program leadership levels.
Methods:
Demographic information was collected for all matched AAES fellows from 2001 to 2023 and for current Endocrine Surgery (ES) faculty, program directors (PDs), and section heads at US programs based on publicly available data. Stated gender was collected from physician clinical biographies, hospital websites, or National Provider Identifier listings. Leadership positions were defined as PDs and section heads. Gender differences between ES fellows, faculty, and leaders were analyzed.
Results:
Gender was determined for 381 (99.5%) fellows, 105 (100%) faculty, 25 (100%) PDs, and 25 (100%) section heads. There were 222 (58.3%) female fellows, 53 (50.5%) faculty, and 20 (40%) leaders (PDs and section heads). The proportion of female fellows increased from 2001-2011 (54.6%) to 2012-2023 (59.7%). While there was no significant difference between the proportion of female fellows and faculty (58.3% vs 50.5%, p=0.15), we found a significant difference in the proportion of female leaders relative to fellows (40% vs 58.3%, p=0.01) [Figure 1]. There was also a lower proportion, though not significantly different, of female leaders relative to faculty (40% vs 50.5%, p=0.22).
Conclusion:
Female surgeons are well represented among ES fellows and faculty; however, females are disproportionately underrepresented at the leadership level. Further research evaluating factors contributing to this discrepancy is warranted. Intentional efforts to highlight and address disparities in leadership positions is critical to closing the gender gap in academic surgery.
