Leadership trends among orthopaedic trauma surgery fellowship directors: a cross-sectional demographic review

Abstract

Background: Fellowship directors in orthopaedic trauma surgery have an immense impact on the current and future trainees within orthopaedics. The purpose of our study was to evaluate and better understand the characteristics that are shared among current orthopaedic trauma surgery fellowship directors to provide a framework for aspiring leaders and to present a demographic snapshot. Methods: Orthopaedic trauma fellowship programs were identified using the Orthopaedic Trauma Association Directory for 2019 to 2020. Data for each fellowship director was gathered via online review, email, telephone, and curriculum vitae collection. Results: Demographic information was gathered for 72 fellowship directors. Of these, 93% of the leadership was male. Additionally, 40 (55%) fellowship directors responded to the racial classification question. Of those responding, 37 identified as Caucasian, one as Asian-American, one as Hispanic/Latino, and one as African American. The mean age of the current fellowship directors (51.4 yr), h-index (15.1), year of residency (2001) and fellowship (2003) graduation, time of employment at current institution (13.8 yr), time since training until fellowship director appointment (9.8 yr) were analyzed. The top residency and fellowship programs that produced future fellowship directors were University of Pittsburgh (n=4) and Harborview Medical Center (n=17). Conclusions: Our investigation highlighted the qualifications of orthopaedic trauma fellowship directors and can guide future leaders. A select few institutions train a disproportionate share of the current fellowship directors. Gender and racial diversity are limited in this population of leaders. Level of Evidence: Level III.

Orthopaedic Sports Medicine Fellowship Directors Are Predominantly White Men With a High Degree of Research Productivity

“… 21 Additionally, Scopus has been used by many previous analyses with the purpose of analyzing individual author research metrics. 14 , 15 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 Publications were defined as pieces of scientific literature in which the author was included anywhere on the author line. The total number of citations were tabulated by the Scopus database and defined as the total number of citations in which the author was credited for any scientific work.…”

Characterizing Leadership Trends in Hand Surgery Fellowship Programs

“… 10 Fellowship directors in adult reconstructive, trauma, and pediatric orthopedics had similar mean H-indices of 16.6, 15.1, and 17.2, respectively. 7 , 8 , 9 However, fellowship directors for spine programs had the highest mean H-index of 23.8. 6 The majority of hand surgery fellowship directors had H-indices between 10 and 20, and only 7 (9.3%) of them had H-indices of greater than 30, paralleling the distribution in other orthopedic subspecialties in which most fellowship directors have H-indices of less than 30 ( Fig.…”

“…6e9 Fellowships in trauma and pediatric orthopedics have recently increased in number, leading to more available positions. 8,9 Regarding demographic characteristics, hand surgery fellowship directors are predominantly White and men (Table 1). Only 10 (11.6%) hand surgery fellowship directors are women, paralleling the findings of other orthopedic subspecialties at all levels of training.…”

“…This is evidenced by programs such as Hospital for Special Surgery appearing in the top fellowship director–producing institutions for trauma and spine programs. 6 , 9 It is also possible that candidates attracted to these programs were those interested in becoming fellowship directors in the first place.…”

“…These studies found that factors such as research output and residency program reputation were significant predictors of fellowship leadership across orthopedic subspecialties. 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 Such studies not only characterize current leadership but also provide future leaders a possible roadmap. To our knowledge, there have been no similar published studies on fellowship directorship within hand surgery.…”