Abstract
Purpose :
Women remain underrepresented in ophthalmic subspecialties. Prevalence of women in ocular oncology leadership and scholarship is unknown. We performed a retrospective study to examine trends in women scholarship and leadership in ocular oncology societies.
Methods :
First and last authors of studies in PubMed including “uveal melanoma” (UM) or “retinoblastoma” (Rb) published 2011-2022 were extracted via Python. Publicly available leadership and awards by American Association of Ophthalmic Oncologists and Pathologists (AAOOP) and International Society of Ocular Oncology (ISOO) were collected. A binary gender predictive software (GenderAPI) was utilized and assignments >90% certainty were included. Random sets of 25 authors were selected to determine software accuracy. Names of the 66 most cited UM and Rb authors in PubMed ranked by an online database (Expertscape) were obtained and accuracy of their GenderAPI outputs confirmed. Chi square analysis was conducted to compare proportions of female authors in 2011-2016 vs. 2017-2022, as well as proportion of female senior leaders in ISOO (2009-2015 vs. 2015-2022) and AAOOP (1979-2006 vs. 2006-2022). Award recipients were compared qualitatively.
Results :
A total of 5716 UM authors and 14454 Rb authors were identified, of which 4245 UM (74.3%) and 9660 Rb authors (66.8%) were included in the analysis. Among random author sets, mean % of correct assignments was 95% (range, 92-100%). More men were first (51.9% UM; 54.5% Rb) and senior authors (68.6% UM; 70.7% Rb). There was no significant difference in proportion of women first authors (UM, p=0.4; Rb, p=0.1) in 2011-2022. Proportions of women senior authors were significantly higher in 2017-2022 (UM, p=0.002; Rb, p<0.001) compared to 2011-2016. Both ISOO (57.5%) and AAOOP (73.0%) had more men leaders. Though there were more women leaders in the most recent time interval for both societies, differences did not meet significance (ISOO, p=0.5; AAOOP, p=0.2). Among 36 AAOOP and 18 ISOO award recipients, 32 (88.9%) and 14 (77.8%), respectively, were men.
Conclusions :
Women representation in ocular oncology scholarship and leadership has increased over time. Senior women authors have increased, but there has not been significant growth in women first authors. More men have been in leadership roles and received awards during the analyzed time period.
This abstract was presented at the 2024 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, WA, May 5-9, 2024.