Leadership Positions in Academic Plastic Surgery: Are You a Candidate?

Purpose: It is unclear which trainees will ultimately be successful in acquiring leadership roles in academic plastic surgery. We sought to identify factors associated with current chiefs and chairman in academic plastic surgery to encourage and shape future leaders of tomorrow.

Methods: Academic plastic surgery chiefs and chairman (n = 93) were identified through an Internet-based search of all Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education-accredited residency and fellowship training programs during the year of 2015. Gender, academic rank, board certification, time since certification, medical school attended, residency program attended, fellowships, advanced degrees, obtaining leadership roles at trainees institution, and h- index were analyzed.

Results: Of the 93 chiefs and chairman, ninety four percent were male, 81% obtained full professor status.  Ninety eight percent were certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery. The mean time since certification was 22 years (range 7-45 years). Eighty seven percent graduated from medical schools within the United States. While 9 plastic surgery programs were responsible for training 42% of current chiefs/chairmen in plastic surgery.  Fifty-six percent had pursued fellowships beyond their primary plastic surgery training. 22% had obtained advanced degrees beyond MD. Twenty-nine percent of chiefs and chairman obtained leadership roles at the institution where they had completed plastic surgery training. The mean h index was 17.6 (range 1- 63).  Graduates of the 9 most represented residency programs had a mean h index of 21 vs. 15 when compared the remaining chief/chairmen. (p<0.0062)

Conclusions:  Chiefs and Chairman in plastic surgery are more likely to be male, hold academic rank of professor, and have completed a fellowship after residency. They are also more likely to have trained at 1 of 9 programs (table1).