Analysis of Gender Diversity Within Hand Surgery Fellowship Programs

Characterizing Leadership Trends in Hand Surgery Fellowship Programs

“…11 However, women hold more fellowship director positions in hand surgery than in spine, adult reconstruction, and trauma, in which women hold 3.9%, 0%, and 7% of the fellowship director positions, respectively. 6 , 7 , 9 Despite this finding, Grandizio et al 12 noted that programs with female fellowship directors did not have increased female fellows or faculty. This is consistent with the overall low female presence in orthopedic surgery.…”

“…13,14 Although progress is to be made, the relatively increased representation in hand surgery is promising, as increased female representation at higher levels of leadership generally correlates with increased representation at all levels within an institution. 12,15 Orthopedic surgery has trailed other surgical subspecialties in racial/ethnic diversity of trainees as well. 16 A 2006 cross-sectional study found that African Americans and Hispanics/Latinos comprised a significantly smaller proportion of orthopedic residents than general surgery and neurosurgery residents.…”

“… 13 , 14 Although progress is to be made, the relatively increased representation in hand surgery is promising, as increased female representation at higher levels of leadership generally correlates with increased representation at all levels within an institution. 12 , 15 …”

Gender diversity in microsurgery academic faculty across the United States

“…(Obeid et al, 2017) Similarly, a 2021 study on gender diversity among hand surgery faculty members revealed the lack of diversity among one of plastic surgery subspecialties, with only 15% of faculty members being women. (Grandizio et al, 2021) In this article, we aim to evaluate gender disparity among faculty across microsurgery fellowship programs in the United States by comparing the disparities among total number of faculty, program directors (PD's), years in practice and academic rank.…”

“…(Obeid et al, 2017) Similarly, a 2021 study on gender diversity among hand surgery faculty members revealed the lack of diversity among one of plastic surgery subspecialties, with only 15% of faculty members being women. (Grandizio et al, 2021) We identified 185 microsurgeons, 29 (15.7%) were classified as female and 156 (84.3%) as male (p < .0001). Among the 32 fellowship program directors, only 3 (9.4%) were identified as female.…”