Advancing opportunity and representation in the American Venous Forum

Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) within the physician workforce is critical to establishing a diverse provider network that accurately represents the patient population served by vascular surgeons. Vascular surgery remains a largely male-dominated surgical specialty, and the number of women in leadership positions in academic surgical specialties continues to be disproportionate. The representation of women in leadership roles differs across vascular surgery societies. The goal of this study is to provide an update on the representation of women and incorporation of DEI topics at American Venous Forum (AVF) annual meetings and across committees.

A retrospective review was conducted of available scientific meeting programs and abstracts presented at the AVF from 2010 to 2023. The time period was divided into before 2019 and after 2019, as this was the year that the Society for Vascular Surgery established the Task Force on DEI. Women's participation and DEI domains were documented for each year. A two-sample unpaired t-test was used to compare mean percentages.

Specifically, within the AVF, women's representation across all roles (presenters, senior authors, moderators, committee chairs, committee members, and officers) has increased when comparing prior years (2010-2019) with a more recent time period (2020-2023). The largest increase was observed for moderators (12.6% vs 30.2%; +17.6%), and the smallest increase was observed for presenters (21.1% vs 28.9%; +7.8%). When comparing the same time periods, the mean percentage of DEI domains (access to care, race and ethnicity, gender, age, health literacy, and socioeconomic status) highlighted in research presentations at AVF annual meetings has increased numerically over time but is not statistically significant except for the DEI domain of age (1.34% vs 3.28%; P = .0008).

Although there have been positive improvements in the proportion of women in leadership roles at the AVF, the integration of DEI domains at AVF annual meetings continues to show slow progress. This study reflects an opportunity for AVF leaders and councils to prioritize strategies to incorporate important DEI domains into our annual meetings and mission-related efforts. Intentional progress in these areas will ultimately contribute to more successfully carrying out the AVF Core Values (VEINS: Values and integrity, Education, Inclusivity, equity, diversity, Nurturing, Scientific excellence and research).