566 Acne core outcomes research network: Progress in core outcome set development in clinical trials

Abstract

Gender inequality has been observed in several fields of basic science research and academic medicine, but has not yet been assessed in academic dermatology. We sought to describe the association between gender and career metrics including academic rank, scholarly impact (assessed by Hirsch-index) and funding. We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of all US academic dermatologists with Scopus profiles (N¼685) from all academic centers listed in ERAS with an accessible website (N¼115), excluding nonacademic faculty such as research staff and volunteer faculty. Academic rank, numerical h-index, and NIH funding information were collected from websites, Scopus database, and NIH RePORTER, respectively. Statistics were conducted with linear regressions, t-tests, and Spearman correlations. The h-index is positively associated with ascending academic rank in dermatology. Also, the h-index significantly correlated with NIH funding in terms of the number of grants (r¼0.216, p<.019) and total dollar amount (r¼0.338, p<0.001), and career length (r¼0.716, p<0.001). There were more female than male assistant professors overall, but there were more male than female full professors and chairs. While male assistant professors had higher h-index than female assistant professors (M male ¼6.40, SD male ¼6.17; M female ¼4.27, SD female ¼6.08; p<0.001), after normalizing for career length, this difference was no longer significant (p¼0.094). Overall, factors associated with increased academic productivity include being male, attaining higher academic positions, having a longer career length, having greater numbers of NIH grants, and having MD and PhD degrees. Fewer numbers of female dermatologists at higher academic positions may have complex cultural and structural underpinnings. With the greater numbers of female assistant professors, increasing mentorship, particularly for publishing high-impact work and securing funding, may help women to ascend the academic ladder in dermatology.

Core Outcome Set for Actinic Keratosis Clinical Trials

“…6 Of note, the use of COSs does not restrict the number of additional outcomes that may be measured in a clinical trial. Although several dermatology-specific COSs have been developed in recent years, [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] there is no existing COS for treatment of AK.…”