An Analysis of Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Fellowship Program Directors in the United States

Abstract

This study aims to examine the demographic features, academic backgrounds, and scholarly achievements of ophthalmic plastic and reconstructive surgery (OPRS) fellowship program directors (PDs) in the United States. MethodsIn this cross-sectional analysis, publicly accessible sources were accessed in March 2022 to collate the demographic and academic profiles of PDs of American Society of Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (ASOPRS)-accredited OPRS fellowships. Differences by gender and program rank were assessed using the Mann-Whitney U test. ResultsFifty-four PDs were identified, the majority of whom were males (88.89% (n = 48)). The average age was 58.48 years. Of the PDs, 96.3% (n = 53) obtained a medical degree, and all completed residency training in the United States. In addition, 9.26% (n = 5) had another degree, either a Doctor of Philosophy (n = 3) or master's degree (n = 2). A substantial proportion of individuals completed medical school (20.37% (n = 11)), residency (20.37% (n = 11)), or fellowship (31.48% (n = 17)) at an institution affiliated with the program where they were PDs. The most common additional fellowship obtained was neuro-ophthalmology (16.67% (n = 9)). The average h-index was 19.30 (range, 0-60), average five-year h-index was 4.85 (range, 0-36), and average m-quotient was 0.63 (range, 0-2.22). A significant difference in the median five-year h-index was observed between females and males (7 (range, 3-36) versus 4 (range, 0-10); p = 0.038). ConclusionsThis analysis indicated that OPRS PDs in the United States were principally males with extensive scholarly productivity. As women remain underrepresented in OPRS, increased gender parity at this leadership position should be encouraged in order to expand the recruitment of women into the field.

A Summary on Tuberculosis Vaccine Development—Where to Go?

“…The number of publications reflects the publication contributions of a country, institution, or individual but not the impact of those contributions. To overcome this drawback, the average citations per article [ 66 , 67 ] and H-index [ 68 , 69 , 70 , 71 , 72 ] were introduced to the quality evaluation. In this study, countries were ranked based on the contribution percentage, and we found that the top five countries with outstanding contributions to TB vaccine research were the USA, the UK, France, Germany, and Denmark ( Figure S1 ).…”

Gender Equity in Academic Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery Departments: A Cross-Sectional Observational Study

“…Over the past 50 years, women have gone from comprising one-fifth of the medical workforce to representing more than half of newly admitted medical students in 2020. 31 Similar to other medical and surgical specialties, OB-GYN was historically a predominantly male field. In recent decades, we have observed an increase in the number of female-identifying trainees.…”

“…The results of this study are consistent with trends in medicine. Over the past 50 years, women have gone from comprising one-fifth of the medical workforce to representing more than half of newly admitted medical students in 2020 31 . Similar to other medical and surgical specialties, OB-GYN was historically a predominantly male field.…”

“…Given this, the authors decided to compare both the H-index and the M-quotients of each attending physician in our data set. [30][31][32][33] The M-quotient for each individual attending physician was calculated using the H-index divided by the year of the attending physician's first publication subtracted from the current year. 29 For example, an attending physician who published his/her first scientific article in 1998 and has an H-index of 5 in the year 2020 would have an M-quotient of 0.23.…”

“…Although the use of the H -index as a measure of a researcher's productivity has been widely used in the field of scientometrics, the M -quotient has also been used in the literature as a way to control for career length. Given this, the authors decided to compare both the H -index and the M -quotients of each attending physician in our data set 30–33 . The M -quotient for each individual attending physician was calculated using the H -index divided by the year of the attending physician's first publication subtracted from the current year 29 .…”