Abstract
Purpose :
Careers in academic ophthalmology are highly competitive. The purpose of our study was to identify factors that may be associated with obtaining a faculty position at a well-regarded program.
Methods :
Full-time academic ophthalmology faculty from 123 institutions with Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education-approved ophthalmology residency programs were included. Ophthalmology residency programs were categorized into "Top" (top 25 programs) and "Other" (non-top 25 programs) using Doximity Residency Navigator 2020-2021. Medical school rankings were determined using U.S. News and World Report 2021 and similarly categorized into “Top” and "Other" programs. Preliminary data from 38 programs (8 Top programs and 30 Other program) are reported below.
Results :
A total of 979 faculty from 38 programs were included (Table 1). Compared to Other programs, Top programs had a greater number of faculty (P = 0.0002), proportion of fellowship-trained faculty (P < 0.0001), and faculty with at least one or more non-medical graduate degrees (P < 0.0001). Compared to Top programs, Other programs had a greater proportion of pediatric ophthalmology fellowship-trained faculty (P = 0.0494). Compared to Other programs, Top programs had significantly higher proportions of faculty who trained at Top medical schools (P < 0.0001), Top residency programs (P < 0.0001), and who were fellowship-trained at their current institution (Fig. 1, P < 0.0001). There were no significant differences between Top and Other programs in the proportion of faculty who completed at least part of their training outside the United States (P = 0.3944), or who completed a research fellowship (P = 0.3274).
Conclusions :
In this preliminary study, we found faculty at top-ranked programs were significantly more likely to be fellowship-trained, have completed a fellowship at their current institution, and have had prior training at their current institution or at other top-ranked programs.
This is a 2021 ARVO Annual Meeting abstract.