Female Leadership in Pediatric Ophthalmology: A Descriptive Analysis.

Area of Science:

• Ophthalmology
• Medical Education
• Gender Studies in Medicine

Background:

• The field of ophthalmology, particularly pediatric ophthalmology, has seen a significant increase in female practitioners.
• Understanding gender representation in leadership positions is crucial for promoting diversity and equity in academic medicine.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the proportion of female leaders among pediatric ophthalmology division chiefs in US academic medical centers and children's hospitals.
• To evaluate female representation among program directors for ophthalmology residency and pediatric ophthalmology fellowship programs in the US.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional study was conducted using publicly available data from December 2023 to February 2024.
• Data included academic medical centers, children's hospitals, and programs participating in the 2023-2024 San Francisco Match.
• Chi-squared analyses were employed to determine statistical significance (P < .05).

Main Results:

• 38.3% of US pediatric ophthalmology services are led by female chiefs, with slightly higher representation in children's hospitals (40.0%) versus academic medical centers (36.4%).
• Female representation was nearly equal in training program leadership: 45.7% of fellowship directors and 42.3% of residency directors were female.
• No statistically significant differences were found in gender distribution between hospital types or training levels.

Conclusions:

• While female representation is nearly equivalent in ophthalmology residency and fellowship program directorships, it lags among division chiefs.
• The current proportion of female pediatric ophthalmology division chiefs does not reflect the increasing gender diversity within the workforce.
• Promoting congruent representation in leadership is essential to align with the evolving gender composition of pediatric ophthalmologists and address the gender gap.