Poster 388: Gender Diversity of Orthopaedic Sports Medicine Fellowship Trainees, Faculty and Leadership

OBJECTIVES: Orthopaedic surgery has remained the most male-dominated field in medicine, despite recent efforts to recruit and retain more women. The objective 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.