Diversity on the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons National Meeting Podium: Changes Over Two Decades

There has been an increase in diversity initiatives regarding selecting speakers for the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) annual meeting and courses. The purpose of this study was to determine the percentage of female or underrepresented minority (URM) speakers for instructional course lectures (ICLs) and AAOS courses over the past 2 decades including a surrogate for expertise.

For 2002, 2012, and 2022, the academic and demographic information of speakers and the number of publications at the time of their speaking role were obtained and compared by sex and URM status. Owing to the unequal sample sizes between male versus female cohorts and URM versus non-URM cohorts, the Welch t -test was used.

The percentage of ICL and AAOS course speakers who were female increased over time (ICL, AAOS courses): 2002 (2.6%, 3.3%), 2012 (3.9%, 6.3%), and 2022 (11.8%, 15.5%) ( P < 0.001, P < 0.001). The percentage of female AAOS fellows in these years was 2.9%, 4.7%, and 7.4%, respectively. For ICLs and AAOS course speakers, female presenters had fewer publications than male counterparts (ICL, AAOS courses): 2002 ( P < 0.001, P = 0.048), 2012 ( P = 0.003, P < 0.001), and 2022 ( P < 0.001, P < 0.001). For ICLs in 2022, URM speakers had a similar number of publications compared with non-URM speakers. In 2022, URMs comprised 6.9% of ICL speakers and 4% of AAOS fellows. For 2022 ICLs, there were no significant differences in academic institution, position, or region when compared by sex or URM status. For AAOS courses, the percentage of URM speakers increased over time: 2002 (1.1%), 2012 (4.5%), and 2022 (8.6%). For AAOS courses, URM presenters had similar publications compared with non-URM presenters in 2002 and 2022 but less in 2012 ( P = 0.027).

The percentage of women and URMs presenting ICLs and AAOS courses has increased over the past 2 decades and exceeded the percentage they represent in the AAOS by over 50%. The female cohort has fewer publications, on average, than the male cohort for all years evaluated, indicating no institutional bias against female speakers.