Characteristics of the Association of Residents in Radiation Oncology Educator of the Year Award Recipients

Abstract

The Association of Residents in Radiation Oncology (ARRO) presents the Educator of the Year Award to outstanding faculty members at each participating institution every year. The aim of this study was to characterize the recipients of this award. The recipients of the annual ARRO Educator of the Year Award were identified from the years 2008 to 2019. Publicly available website domains were accessed to obtain data regarding clinical treatment site, number of sites treated, whether they were at the same institution where they trained, academic rank, sex, American Society for Radiation Oncology fellow status, repeat awardee status during the period, and number of years since board certification. H- and m-indices were obtained from Scopus and calculated based on the time of the award. General workforce data were obtained from American Society for Radiation Oncology and recently published articles. The authors performed correlative analyses stratified by sex and logistic regression to determine predictors of repeat awardee status. There were a total of 607 ARRO educator awards from the years 2008 to 2019. The majority of recipients were male (77.6%) and assistant professors (39.0%). The median number of years from board certification was 7 (interquartile range, 3-17) and the median h- and m-indices were 14 and 1, respectively. When stratified by sex, publication metrics were significantly higher for men (P < .05), and men were more likely to be repeat awardees (P < .001) and have higher academic rank (P=.007). On multivariate analysis, those of higher rank were more likely to be repeat awardees (associate odds ratio [OR], 3.55; P < .001; full professor OR, 2.04; P=.046) and less likely to be women (OR, 0.41; P=.002), and h- and m-indices were not associated with repeat awardee status. Recipients of the ARRO educator award appear to be diverse in rank and experience; however, associate professor rank and sex were associated with continued recognition of educational excellence.