Abstract No. 465 Virtual happy hour: effective female mentorship during COVID-19

Purpose: Women are underrepresented in interventional radiology, with less than 10% in practice and 15% in training Prior studies have indicated that connections made at meetings and symposia help foster IR interest amongst female medical students However, due to COVID-19 many events have been canceled thus networking opportunities have decreased The purpose of this study is to determine if virtual hangout sessions with female medical students, trainees, and attendings is a feasible solution for creating mentorship while in-person events are on hold Materials and Methods: An anonymous 8-item survey was created consisting of multiple choice, 5-point Likert scale, and free-response questions aimed at assessing factors motivating medical students to pursue a career in IR The survey was sent to medical students registered for the Women in IR (WIR) Virtual Hangout event The event was split into eight 1-hour sessions with up to 10 students and 3 or 4 trainees or attendings per session After the event, an anonymous post-event survey was created and sent to attendees consisting of the same questions as the pre-survey, with additional questions regarding their experience of the event in order to assess changes in the factors that may influence their decision to choose a career in IR Data was collected and presented as frequencies Differences between groups assessed via Fisher’s exact test Results: Of the 79 students who were sent the pre-survey, 53 (67%) responded Of the 45 students who attended the event and sent the post-survey, 28 (62%) responded When comparing pre- and post-survey responses, there was a significant statistically significant decrease in concern about limited female mentorship (86 8% to 60 7%, P = 0 01) While not statistically significant, large decreases in concern were noted for radiation exposure (64 1% to 42 9%;P = 0 1) and financial compensation (39 6% to 17 9%;P = 0 051) Furthermore, 78 6% reported an increased likelihood of applying to IR after attending the event, and 96 4% would recommend the event to others Conclusions: Because of COVID-19, in-person events are no longer feasible at this time, resulting in decreased networking and mentorship events for women The WIR Virtual Hangout session has shown to be a promising solution, with reported increased likelihood of applying to IR and attending future events This along with decreases in prevalent concerns such as radiation exposure and perceived limited female mentorship demonstrates that virtual hangout sessions can be effective in recruiting female medical students to pursue IR, thus closing the gender gap