Vice Chair of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Colin Martin, M.D., FACS, published “Reassessing career pathways of surgical leaders: An examination of surgical leaders’ early accomplishments” in the American Journal of Surgery.

Third author Martin and the cohort of surgical authors represented a partnership of three national surgical societies supporting the research: The American College of Surgeon (ACS), American Surgical Association (ASA), Association of Women Surgeons (AWS), and Society of Black Academic Surgeons (SBAS).

Authors assessed president’s CVs, of the societies represented, for demographics and scholastic achievements at the time of first faculty appointment in order to gain insight into whether inequities found in surgical society presidents may be present at the time of hire.

They found that 50 percent of AWS future presidents were hired as instructors rather than assistant professors, compared to 29.4 percent of SBAS, 25 percent of ASA and 29.4 percent of ACS. The future ACS, ASA, and SBAS presidents had more total publications than the AWS presidents, but similar numbers of first and senior author publications.

The group ultimately concluded that gender inequities in academic surgeon hiring practices and perceived scholastic success may be present at first hire.

“Our research, while significant, only scratches the surface of potential inequities in the surgical field,” said Martin. “Not only is there a greater need for further analysis of hiring practices and career support offered to all individuals in academic surgery, but there is a more immediate calling for current surgical leaders to offer robust mentorship and sponsorship opportunities.”

Read the entire article here.