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Race, Ethnicity, and Gender Representation Among US Academic Spine Surgeons
Olivia A Opara1, Rajkishen Narayanan, Omar H Tarawneh
1From the Rothman Orthopaedic Institute, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA (Opara, Narayanan, Tarawneh, Lee, Tomlak, Zavanistos, Czarnecki, Hassan, Canseco, Hilibrand, Vaccaro, Schroeder, Kepler, and Woods), the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA (Lipa), and MedStar Orthopaedic Institute, Georgetown University School of Medicine, Washington, DC (Mesfin).
Background:
Although diversity has improved across certain orthopaedic subspecialties, enhancing diversity within spine surgery has remained a challenge. We aimed to investigate the current state of sex, racial, and ethnic diversity among academic orthopaedic spine surgeons in the United States.
Methods:
In January 2024, a cross-sectional analysis of orthopaedic spine surgery faculty in the United States was conducted using the Doximity database to identify eligible surgeons. Fellowship-trained orthopaedic spine surgeons (professor, associate professor, and assistant professor) who graduated residency between 1990 and 2022 were included. Race, sex, academic rank, residency year of graduation, and H-Index scores were recorded using publicly available information from faculty profile pages and the Doximity database.
Results:
Four hundred fifty-two spine faculty were included in the analysis: 95.1% men and 4.84% women. Across race and ethnicity, 315 surgeons (69.7%) were White, 111 (24.6%) Asian, 15 (3.32%) Black or African American, and 11 (2.43%) Hispanic or Latino or of Spanish origin. Of the 101 professor-level surgeons, 3 (2.97%) were Black men. Among female professors, none were Black, Asian, or Hispanic/Latino. No Hispanic or Latino female professors, associate professors, or assistant professors were identified. The sex and race/ethnicity demographics that have increased in percentage over time include White women (0.92% to 6.08%), Asian men (11.0% to 26.5%), Asian women (0% to 1.66%), and Hispanic/Latino men (1.83% to 3.87%). The surgeon demographic groups that demonstrated minimal fluctuations over time included Black men, Black women, and Hispanic/Latino women.
Conclusion:
Our findings demonstrate that underrepresentation among academic spine surgeons remains an ongoing challenge that warrants increased attention. Enhancing the representation of Black and Hispanic men, as well as Black, Asian, and Hispanic women, in spine surgery requires a deliberate effort at every level of orthopaedic training.
