Academic Rank and Productivity Among United States Cardiothoracic Surgeons.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Despite a significant growth of women trainees in cardiothoracic surgery recently, women remain a minority of cardiothoracic surgeons and hold a minority of leadership positions. This study evaluates differences in cardiothoracic surgeon subspecialty choices, academic rank, and academic productivity between men and women. METHODS: The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education database was used to identify 78 cardiothoracic surgery academic programs in the United States, including integrated, 4+3, and traditional fellowships, as of June 2020. A total of 1179 faculty members were identified within these programs, 585 adult cardiac surgeons (50%), 386 thoracic surgeons (33%), and 168 congenital surgeons (14%), and other, 40 (3%). Data were collected using institutional websites, ctsnet.org, doximity.com, linkedin.com, and Scopus. RESULTS: Of the 1179 surgeons, only 9.6% were women. Overall, women composed 6.7% of adult cardiac, 15% of thoracic, and 7.7% of congenital surgeons. Among subspecialties, women represent 4.5% (17 of 376) of full professors and 5% (11 of 195) of division chiefs in cardiothoracic surgery in the United States, have shorter career durations, and lower h-indices compared with men. However, women had similar m-indices, which factors in career length, compared with men in adult cardiac (0.63 vs 0.73), thoracic (0.77 vs 0.90), and congenital (0.67 vs 0.78) surgeons. CONCLUSIONS: Career duration, including cumulative research productivity, appears to be the most important factors predicting full professor rank, potentially contributing to persistent sex-based disparities in academic cardiothoracic surgery.