Comparing Predictors for Leadership in Surgical Subspecialty National Organizations

Analyzing characteristics of national leaders in surgery can provide insight into the factors that contribute to their success.

The names of the 2024 executive board and past presidents were collected from national surgical subspecialty organizations. A cross-sectional analysis of training and leadership backgrounds was conducted from information gathered online. Logistic regression was used to analyze predictors for executive positions.

A total of 871 leaders from 48 organizations were characterized, including 66 plastic surgeons. Most (84.5%) leaders completed a subspecialty-specific fellowship and had a mean of 3.6 institutional positions. The number of chief/chair positions (odds ratio [95% confidence interval] = 1.55 [1.31-1.84]) and editor positions (1.11 [1.02-1.23]) were associated with increased odds of being a national vice president/president, whereas completing multiple fellowships was associated with decreased odds (odds ratio [95% confidence interval] = 0.56 [0.35-0.88]). Plastic surgery leaders had higher rates of no fellowship training (22.7% versus 5.5%) and a lower average number of industry positions (0.1 versus 0.4) compared with those in other fields. Compared with presidents in other specialties, plastic surgery presidents had lower rates of subspecialty-specific fellowship training (72.2% versus 84.9%).

Experience leading at the institutional level is correlated with national surgical leadership. Our findings may help guide young plastic surgeons hoping to become involved at the national level.