Abstract
Purpose :
To investigate the characteristics of first-year residents in top ranked United States (US) ophthalmology residency programs over the past decade.
Methods :
Data from first-year ophthalmology residents in 2009, 2013, 2016, and 2019 was obtained from institutional websites, Doximity, and LinkedIn and the Wayback Machine. For each resident, publications were obtained from Scopus and Google Scholar, research productivity was measured using the h-index, and medical school rank and region were based on 2021 US News and World Report (US News) and US Census Bureau designations, respectively. The 20 ophthalmology residency programs ranked as ‘Top 13’ or ‘High Performing’ by the 2021 US News were labeled Tier 1; the 100 unranked as Tier 2. One-way ANOVA and χ2 tests were used to analyze trends and odds ratios (OR) were calculated using logistic regression.
Results :
Data was obtained on 81% (1496/1850) of the residents; 43% (644/1492) were female; 5% graduated from medical schools outside the US or Canada; 10% (155/1492) had other graduate degrees; 21% (317/1492) attended a top 20 medical school; and 41% (616/1496) had an h-index of one or more. Over the decade, the mean h-index increased (0.87 to 1.26; p<0.05) and the proportion of residents who attended top 20-ranked medical schools decreased (28 to 18%; p<0.05). Independent factors associated with being a resident in a Tier 1 program were having a master’s degree [OR: 2.08, 95% CI: 1.18–3.69] or PhD [OR: 2.13, 95% CI: 1.25–3.64], attending a top 20 [OR: 8.02, 95% CI: 5.12–12.55] or top 40 [OR: 2.45, 95% CI: 1.56–3.85] school, attending a school in the Northeast [OR: 1.86, 95% CI: 1.27–2.70] or having an h-index of one or more [OR: 1.84, 95% CI: 1.40–2.41].
Conclusions :
Graduate degrees, attending a highly ranked medical school or a medical school in the Northeast, and research experience were key characteristics of first-year residents in top ranked US ophthalmology residency programs.
This is a 2021 ARVO Annual Meeting abstract.