Accessibility of Plastic Surgery Research Fellowships

Abstract

P lastic surgery is consistently one of the most competitive specialties to match into, 1,2 with one of the highest number of research experiences per applicant annually. 2 Because research becomes a marker of competitiveness, productive research fellowships are unsurprisingly popular. Research fellows are also found to continue producing more research throughout residency than peers. 3 However, because not all students have access to plastic surgery mentoring or a home program, knowledge about available opportunities is not equitably distributed. We aimed to compile a list of active research fellowships in the United States and identify how easily accessible the information is.We searched online to identify fellowships, using combinations of keywords such as "plastic surgery," "research fellowship," "gap year opportunities," and "medical students." We defined "accessible" as being within the first four pages of a search engine or being posted on a national surgery organization's website. We monitored ACAPS and APDS from August 2022 to March 2023. A literature search was conducted, and medical school websites compiling external opportunities were cross-referenced. All programs were emailed for confirmation.A total of 19 fellowships were identified. (See table, Supplemental Digital Content 1, which displays the official research fellowships available. http://links.lww. com/PRSGO/D340). Eight programs had websites, seven created job listings, and only one program had both. The literature search yielded one 2021 article naming 18 opportunities, out of which, six corroborated our findings, nine were no longer offered, and three were confirmed to still be offered but didn't have an online presence. 4 Accessibility-wise, 14 programs met our criteria. We found that medical schools did not highlight plastic surgery the same way they highlighted other specialties. Across a sample of six medical school