Effective oncoprotein-targeted therapies have not yet been developed for ovarian cancer. To explore the role of PI3 kinase/AKT signaling in this disease, we performed a genetic and functional analysis of ovarian cancer cell lines and tumors. PI3K pathway alterations were common in both, but the spectrum of mutational changes differed. Genetic activation of the pathway was necessary, but not sufficient, to confer sensitivity to selective inhibition of AKT and cells with RAS pathway alterations or RB1 loss were resistant to AKT inhibition, whether or not they had coexistent PI3K/AKT pathway activation. Inhibition of AKT1 caused growth arrest in a subset of ovarian cell lines, but not in those with AKT3 expression, which required pan-AKT inhibition. Thus, a subset of ovarian tumors are sensitive to AKT inhibition, but the genetic heterogeneity of the disease suggests that effective treatment with AKT pathway inhibitors will require a detailed molecular analysis of each patient’s tumor.

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Objective: To compare the complexity of operations performed by female versus male surgeons. Background: Prior literature has suggested that female surgeons are relatively underemployed when compared to male surgeons, with regards to operative case volume and specialization. Methods: Operative case records from a large academic medical center from 1997 to 2018 were evaluated. The primary end point was work relative value unit (wRVU) for each case with a secondary end point of total wRVU per month for each surgeon. Multivariate linear analysis was performed, adjusting for surgeon race, calendar year, seniority, and clinical subspecialty. Results: A total of 551,047 records were analyzed, from 131 surgeons and 13,666 surgeon-months. Among them, 104,424 (19.0%) of cases were performed by female surgeons, who make up 20.6% (n = 27) of the surgeon population, and 2879 (21.1%) of the surgeon months. On adjusted analysis, male surgeons earned an additional 1.65 wRVU per case, compared to female surgeons (95% confidence interval 1.57–1.74). Subset analyses found that sex disparity increased with surgeon seniority, and did not improve over the 20-year study period. Conclusions: Female surgeons perform less complex cases than their male peers, even after accounting for subspecialty and seniority. These sex differences are not due to availability from competing professional or familial obligations. Future work should focus on determining the cause and mitigating this underemployment of female surgeons.

A cross-sectional study of gender-based discrimination and bias during residency training Many studies have shown that both residents and attending physicians are unhappy in their work. One possible explanation for resident physician unhappiness is a suboptimal learning and working environment. We are attempting to better understand the learning and working environment for resident physicians within the Partners system. As a resident physician, you are invited to complete the following survey on your workplace experiences including gender-based discrimination or bias. Your participation is voluntary, and we are committed to the confidentiality of your responses. Surveys will be administered via the secure Partners REDCap platform and all participants will be assigned a randomly generated study ID that will be used for all data extraction and analysis. The only individual who will have access to identifiable data (e.g., email address) is a PhD educator who has no supervisory role over resident physicians. Other members of the research team will only see de-identified or coded results. No physician, including your program director or department chair, will have access to identifiable data. This survey will take you approximately 5-15 minutes to complete. Completing the survey acknowledges your consent to participate in this study.