430 Academic Productivity of Neurosurgical Trainees Is Associated With Productivity of Gender Concordant Faculty

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Mentorship disparity is a commonly cited barrier to female neurosurgery trainees. The extent to which gender concordance with faculty impacts trainees’ academic productivity is underexplored. METHODS: The website of each ACGME accredited neurological surgery residency program was queried to identify the name and gender of all current (2022-2023) neurosurgical residents and academic faculty. Academic productivity, defined as the number of publications per person between 2021-2023 in 15 neurosurgery journals, was compiled into an original database. For each program, the average number of publications per female and male faculty and resident were recorded. Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated. RESULTS: A total of 959 faculty (female: 121, 12.6%) and 790 residents (female: 179, 22.7%) across 112 programs were identified. Forty (38%) programs had no female faculty; 32% had no female residents. The absence of female faculty was not statistically associated with the absence of female residents. In programs with only male faculty, academic productivity of male attendings was negatively associated with that of female residents (-0.47, p 0.0104). CONCLUSIONS: Academic productivity of male faculty correlates with productivity of male residents in their program; this relationship is not observed between faculty and residents of opposite genders. In programs with only male faculty, faculty productivity is inversely correlated with productivity of female residents. These findings reveal limited collaboration between residents and faculty of the opposite gender as a potential barrier to academic productivity. Furthermore, efforts to promote effective cross-sex collaboration could increase productivity for all members of neurosurgery divisions.