Residency Program Directors of United States Ophthalmology Programs: A Descriptive Analysis

Abstract Purpose To analyze the academic background, scholarly achievements, and demographic characteristics of all US ophthalmology residency program directors (PDs). Design Cross-sectional study. Methods Setting: Online search of publicly available resources conducted from February 16, 2019 to February 26, 2019. Study Population One hundred and sixteen ophthalmology residency PDs. Main Outcome Measures Demographic and academic data. Results One hundred and sixteen program directors were analyzed. Eighty-four of 116 (72%) PDs were male. The average age was 50.0 years. The mean age at appointment was 42.9 years. Ninety-three percent graduated from an American medical school, and 97% received an MD degree. Twenty percent of PDs completed an additional graduate degree, most commonly a master’s degree (7 of 23) and Doctor of Philosophy (7 of 23). Seventy-eight percent completed a fellowship, with the most frequent glaucoma (24%), cornea & external diseases (22%), and neuro-ophthalmology (21%). The mean number of publications as per PubMed was 17.6 (range of 0-92). There was no significant difference between the average number of publications between male and female PDs (19.2 ± 20.5 vs. 13.5 ± 23.1, P=0.21). On average, the Hirsch index was 8.7 (range of 0-35) and was higher in male than female PDs (9.8 ± 8.3 vs 5.4 ± 4.0, P=0.01). Conclusions Ophthalmology program directors are predominantly male with fellowship training in glaucoma, cornea, or neuro-ophthalmology. Women remain underrepresented and future efforts should be aimed at addressing this disparity.