Analysis of Gender Diversity Within Hand Surgery Fellowship Programs

Area of Science:

• Orthopedic Surgery
• Surgical Education
• Gender Diversity Studies

Background:

• Gender disparities persist in surgical subspecialties.
• Understanding faculty and trainee demographics is crucial for promoting diversity in orthopedic surgery fellowship programs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To define and compare gender diversity among faculty and trainees in hand surgery fellowship programs.
• To assess the relationship between female faculty/directors and the recruitment of female fellows.

Main Methods:

• Analyzed gender of program directors, faculty, and fellows across orthopedic and plastic surgery hand fellowship programs (2014-2019).
• Compared gender distribution of faculty and directors with prior fellow cohorts.
• Evaluated the impact of female leadership on the percentage of female fellows.

Main Results:

• Hand surgery fellowships had 13% female directors and 15% female faculty among 614 positions.
• 25% of 849 prior fellows were female; 79% of programs had at least one female fellow.
• Programs led by female directors did not show a higher percentage of female fellows compared to those led by male directors.

Conclusions:

• Hand surgery fellowships exhibit limited gender diversity, with low percentages of female directors and faculty.
• The presence of female faculty did not appear to attract a higher proportion of female fellows.
• Further research is needed to identify effective strategies for recruiting qualified female candidates into hand surgery fellowships.