Trends in Leadership at Spine Surgery Fellowships.
Publication/Presentation Date
5-15-2020
Abstract
STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional study.
OBJECTIVE: To illustrate demographic trends among spine fellowship leaders (FLs).
SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: No previous study in the orthopedic literature has analyzed the demographic characteristics or past surgical training of FL in an orthopedic sub-specialty. We attempt to illustrate demographic trends among spine fellowship leadership including fellowship directors (FDs) and co-fellowship directors (co-FDs). We also highlight the institutions that have trained these leaders at various levels.
METHODS: Our search for FDs was constructed from the 2018 to 2019 North American Spine Surgery (NASS) Fellowship Directory. Datapoints gathered included: age, sex, residency/fellowship training location, time since training completion until FD appointment, length in FD role, and personal research H-index.
RESULTS: We identified 103 FLs consisting of 67 FDs, 19 co-FDs, and another 16 individuals with a synonymous leadership title. 96.1% (99) of the leadership consisted of males while 3.9% (4) were female. The mean age was 52.9 years old and the mean h-index of the FLs was 23.8. FLs were trained in orthopedic surgery (n = 89), neurosurgery (n = 13), or combined orthopedic surgery and neurosurgery training (n = 1). The top fellowships programs producing future FLs were: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland (n = 10), Washington University, St. Louis (n = 9), and Rothman Orthopaedic Institute, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia (n = 7).
CONCLUSION: Spine surgery fellowship directors are more likely to have graduated from certain residency and fellowship programs. This finding could be a result of the training provided by these centers or the institution's predilection to select applicants that are more likely to later seek academic leadership roles post-training.
LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 4.
Volume
45
Issue
10
First Page
594
Last Page
594
ISSN
1528-1159
Published In/Presented At
Donnally, C. J., 3rd, Schiller, N. C., Butler, A. J., Sama, A. J., Bondar, K. J., Goz, V., Shenoy, K., Vaccaro, A. R., & Hilibrand, A. S. (2020). Trends in Leadership at Spine Surgery Fellowships. Spine, 45(10), E594–E599. https://doi.org/10.1097/BRS.0000000000003350
Disciplines
Business Administration, Management, and Operations | Health and Medical Administration | Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods
PubMedID
31770313
Department(s)
Administration and Leadership
Document Type
Article