Trends in leadership at orthopaedic surgery sports medicine fellowships

Abstract

BACKGROUND Fellowship directors (FDs) in sports medicine influence the future of trainees in the field of orthopaedics. Understanding the characteristics these leaders share must be brought into focus. For all current sports medicine FDs, our group analyzed their demographic background, institutional training, and academic experience. AIM To serve as a framework for those aspiring to achieve this position in orthopaedics and also identify opportunities to improve the position. METHODS Fellowship programs were identified using both the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine and the Arthroscopy Association of North America Sports Medicine Fellowship Directories. The demographic and educational background data for each FD was gathered via author review of current curriculum vitae (CVs). Any information that was unavailable on CV review was gathered from institutional biographies, Scopus Web of Science, and emailed questionnaires. To ensure the collection of as many data points as possible, fellowship program coordinators, orthopaedic department offices and FDs were directly contacted via phone if there was no response via email. Demographic information of interest included: Age, gender, ethnicity, residency/fellowship training, residency/fellowship graduation year, year hired by current institution, time since training completion until FD appointment, length in FD role, status as a team physician and H-index. RESULTS Information was gathered for 82 FDs. Of these, 97.5% ( n = 80) of the leadership were male; 84.15% ( n = 69) were Caucasian, 7.32% ( n = 6) were Asian-American, 2.44% ( n = 2) were Hispanic and 2.44% ( n = 2) were African American, and 3.66% ( n = 3) were of another race or ethnicity. The mean age of current FDs was 56 years old (± 9.00 years), and the mean Scopus H-index was 23.49 (± 16.57). The mean calendar years for completion of residency and fellowship training were 1996 (± 15 years) and 1997 (± 9.51 years), respectively. The time since fellowship training completion until FD appointment was 9.77 years. 17.07% ( n = 14) of FDs currently work at the same institution where they completed residency training; 21.95% ( n = 18) of FDs work at the same institution where they completed fellowship training; and 6.10% ( n = 5) work at the same institution where they completed both residency and fellowship training. Additionally, 69.5% ( n = 57) are also team physicians at the professional and/or collegiate level. Of those that were found to currently serve as team physicians, 56.14% ( n = 32) of them worked with professiona...

Trends in leadership at breast surgical oncology fellowships

“…This could be due to personal connections, prior training, or research relationships created before achieving the leadership role. Similarly, in orthopedic sports medicine, 22% of FDs worked at the same institution they completed fellowship at [ 4 ]. This observation is even more striking in the surgical sub-specialty of cardiothoracic surgery, where 60% of FDs stay in the same region, and 30% had institutional exposure to their program via medical school or training [ 8 ].…”

“…Understanding the characteristics and attributes that breast surgical oncology FDs share may allow trainees, as well as burgeoning leaders, to better understand how these programs have been able to develop excellent breast surgeons. There have been a number of similar leadership papers published in accredited specialties that may now further serve as a roadmap for future leaders [ 4 – 9 ]. No previous study has analyzed demographics and prior training of FDs in the field of breast surgical oncology.…”

Time to publication for orthopaedic surgery peer-reviewed journals: A cross-sectional bibliometric analysis

“…[26][27][28][29] Bastian et al 29 analyzed 2,061 faculty members from 120 orthopaedic surgery residency programs and reported that academic ranks increased as research productivity increased for assistant professors, associate professors, professors, and chairs. Ence et al 30 analyzed 4,663 orthopaedic surgeons across 142 academic institutions and reported that research productivity and longer career duration correlated independently with higher academic rank for orthopaedic surgeons.Various orthopaedic academic leadership studies have described the high research productivity of current fellowship directors for subspecialties such as spine, 31 sports medicine, 32 arthroplasty, 33 and pediatrics 34 as a common characteristic.…”

Demographics and Academic Productivity of Cardiothoracic Imaging Fellowship Program Directors in the United States: A Cross-Sectional Review

“…Only three recent studies have examined the demographic trends among radiology director positions [3][4][5]. Moreover, other studies examining FDs in different subspecialties such as orthopedic surgery, ophthalmology, and cardiothoracic surgery were published recently [6][7][8][9][10]. In all of these surgical subspecialties, there were a larger number of male directors compared to females.…”

“…In all of these surgical subspecialties, there were a larger number of male directors compared to females. A study of sports medicine orthopedic surgeons observed a disproportionate proportion of male FDs (97.5%) with an average age of 56 years [ 9 ]. Ophthalmology showed a similar distribution with the majority being males (72%) with an average age of 50 years [ 7 ].…”