An Analysis of Academic Background and Research Activity Among Pediatric Orthopaedic Surgery Division Chiefs and Fellowship Program Directors

Abstract

Background: Pediatric orthopedics has seen a large increase in the number of practicing surgeons. As a field that is concentrated at tertiary referral centers, research productivity can be a critical component of academic advancement for pediatric orthopedics. Little has been published on the academic profiles of pediatric orthopedic leaders, and therefore, this study sought to highlight the demographics of these individuals. Methods: Pediatric orthopedic division chiefs and fellowship program directors (PD) were identified for all Pediatric Orthopedic Society of North America (POSNA) accredited fellowship programs in the 2020-21 application cycle. A combination of organizational and public websites was used to compile the academic profiles of these leaders, including demographic variables and research productivity. Division chiefs and PDs were then compared, as were leaders when stratified by fellowship size. Results: A total of 46 POSNA-accredited fellowships were identified. As 12 surgeons held dual roles as division chief and PD, 46 division leaders and 34 PDs formed the groups for comparison. Division chiefs had greater median years-in-practice (24.0 vs 13.0, p<0.001), PubMed publications (56.0 vs 27.0, p=0.037), and more frequently were appointed as “Professor” (54.3% vs 23.5%, p=0.013) compared to fellowship PDs. Leaders working at programs with >1 spot/year were more likely to have completed fellowship at their home program (40.0% vs 8.0%, p=0.001) and had higher research productivity across all metrics (all p<0.002) than leaders at programs with 1 position/year. Female representation among division chiefs and fellowship PDs was 10.9% and 14.7%, respectively. Conclusions: When compared to fellowship PDs, pediatric division chiefs had higher research productivity and academic appointments. Division leaders at larger programs additionally had higher research output and more commonly trained at their current institution. Female representation among pediatric orthopedic leaders was higher than the field of orthopedics at large, but lagged behind reported POSNA membership.