Skip to main content
SSO 2024 Annual Meeting Main banner
Icon Legend
This session is not in your schedule.
This session is in your schedule. Click again to remove it.
Presentation Icons
Recorded for On-Demand Viewing
Recorded for On-Demand Viewing
Back

Disparities in Surgical Oncologic Care

E121: Dedicated Resident Research Time and CGSO Fellowships: Whose Interests are Being Served When the Training Pathway Doesn't Match the Workforce?

Introduction: Previous studies have demonstrated that CGSO Fellowship program directors use resident academic productivity and specifically, dedicated resident research time as an important factor in extending applicant interviews and compiling final fellowship rank listing. However, it is unclear whether resident academic productivity portends future post-fellowship academic productivity and if the mandated prerequisite dedicated research time discourages potential applicants associated increased time in residency training. The aim of this study was to characterize academic productivity of CGSO graduates pre-, intra, and post-fellowship.

Methods: CGSO fellowship graduates from 2006-2016 were identified from the SSO and stratified based on fellowship program. Graduate demographics including residency, dedicated research time, secondary degrees, and academic productivity were obtained from publicly available databases. Academic productivity was stratified by pre-, intra-, and post-fellowship years and was defined by M index (H index per year since first publication), and receipt of NIH or DOD research project grants.

Results: Data was extracted from 483 fellowship graduates (68% male) from the 20 CGSO programs active from 2006-2016. Overall, 346 (72%) performed one or more year of dedicated research time during residency; 290/346 (84%), 2 or more years. Following CGSO graduation, 39 (8.1%) graduates received research project grants, with the majority (79%) receiving only a single grant. Although dedicated research time was associated with increased M index, total, and last author publications (p< 0.001) following fellowship, only 43% of all graduates had a M index >1. Fellowship program was associated with academic productivity following graduation with 57% of grant awardees graduating from a single institution. (Figure 1)

Conclusions: This study demonstrates that despite the majority of CGSO graduates performing dedicated research time during surgical residency, only a small minority remain academically productive following fellowship training. These results call into question whether “mandatory” dedicated research time should be a ranking metric for selection into most CGSO programs. As the landscape for fellowship trained, board-certified, surgical oncologists evolves, our training paradigms must change accordingly to accommodate both surgeon-scientists and clinically-oriented trainees.

Learning Objectives:

  • identify the difference in academic productivity before, during, and following fellowship graduation
  • recognize that the average level of academic productivity depends on which fellowship the graduate attended.
  • discuss possible training modalities to compensate for different trainee career goals.