2023 ISAKOS Biennial Congress ePoster
Gender Diversity of Orthopaedic Sports Medicine Fellowship Trainees, Faculty and Leadership
Tessa R Lavorgna, BS, New Orleans, LA UNITED STATES
Sanchita Gupta, BS, Falls Church, Virginia UNITED STATES
Connor Maginnis, BS, Metairie, LA UNITED STATES
Shreya M Saraf, MS UNITED STATES
Stephanie Wong, MD, San Francisco, CA UNITED STATES
Mary K. Mulcahey, MD, Western Springs, IL UNITED STATES
Tulane School of Medicine, New Orleans, LA, UNITED STATES
FDA Status Not Applicable
Summary
We determined the gender diversity of fellows, faculty, and leaders within sports medicine (SM) fellowships. There is a male pre-ponderance of SM fellows currently (men 85.6% vs. women 14.4%) (p<0.001), within the last five years (men, 89.5% vs. women 10.5%) (p=0.74), and within SM leadership (men 85.6% vs. women 14.4%) (p<0.001). This suggests further initiatives for gender diversity are needed.
ePosters will be available shortly before Congress
Abstract
Introduction
Orthopaedic surgery has remained the most male-dominated field in medicine, despite recent efforts to recruit and retain more women. The purpose of this study was to determine the gender composition of fellows, faculty, and leaders within orthopaedic sports medicine fellowship programs to provide a more complete analysis of gender diversity within this subspecialty.
Methods
Official program websites of orthopaedic sports medicine fellowships listed on the Arthroscopy Association of North America (AANA) fellowship directory were examined. Data collected for analysis included the gender of program directors, fellowship faculty, orthopaedic surgery department faculty, current sports medicine fellows and fellows who graduated within the last five years.
Results
In the academic year 2021-2022, 132 sports medicine fellows were in fellowship training in the United States within 97 programs. Of these, 113 (85.6%) were men and 19 (14.4%) were women (p<0.001). Within the past five years, 419 fellows were listed as completing a sports medicine fellowship, with 375 (89.5%) being men, and 44 (10.5%) being women (p<0.001). There is no significant difference in the gender composition of current fellows compared to the composition of fellows within the last 5 years (p=0.74). When examining gender trends in sports medicine faculty, 639 (86.6%) were men and 99 (13.4%) were women (p<0.001). There are 14 women (14.4%) orthopaedic sports medicine faculty in leadership positions (i.e., program directors or assistant program directors) compared to 83 men in such positions (85.6%) (p<0.001).
Conclusions
Orthopaedic sports medicine fellowships remain heavily male-dominated in their trainees, faculty, and leadership. There was no significant difference in the gender composition of current fellows when compared to those who graduated in the last five years, suggesting further and novel initiatives are needed to enhance gender diversity in sports medicine.