S1273 Are There Differences in the Academic Productivity Between Female and Male GI Fellowship Program Directors?

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: The gastroenterology (GI) fellowship program directors (PDs) play a pivotal role in running the fellowship program. The purpose of this study was to analyze the demographic characteristics, academic background and scholarly activities of GI fellowship director workforce in the United States (US). METHODS: A list of all Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) accredited adult GI fellowship programs was obtained. PDs of all programs were included in the study. Publicly available sources were used to gather information about each PD, including the individual program websites, HealthGrades and Doximity websites, Scopus database. The variables collected included age, sex, educational background, fellowships of GI societies (AGAF, FASGE, FACG, FAASLD) and scholarly metrics. Non-parametric statistics including Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal Wallis tests were applied to compare the groups. RESULTS: A total of 207 GI PDs from 207 adult GI fellowship programs were included, of which 159 (76.8%) were males. Female PDs were significantly younger than male PDs (median age 45.5 vs 53 years, P < 0.001). The mean age at appointment of PDs was 45.5 years and the mean duration served as PD was 6.4 years. Majority of PDs graduated from North American medical schools (81%). General gastroenterologists comprised 79% of PDs, while the rest had specialized in hepatology (12%), advanced endoscopy (6%), IBD (2%), and gastric motility (1.0%). Majority of PDs (63.2%) were fellows of a professional GI society. The mean publications, citations and h-index were 37.324 ± 66.51, 1512.57 ± 3820.82 and 12.03 ± 18.27, respectively. No difference was observed in scholarly activities when stratified by sex. Academic rank was available for 113 individuals, amongst which 37 were assistant professors, 43 associate professors and 33 were professors. There was statistically significant increase in scholarly metrics with higher academic rank. Advanced endoscopists and hepatologists had significantly higher scholarly metrics compared to general gastroenterologists. CONCLUSION: While there is no difference in scholarly metrics between current male and female PDs and APDs, gender disparities exist in leadership roles in GI fellowship programs. Efforts should be made to bridge this gap.Figure 1.: Demographics of PDs – by gender (a) and by age* (b).