Female Otolaryngologists Pursuing Research Careers Need More Support, Researchers Conclude

SAN DIEGO—Data on the Triological Society’s Career Development Awards program, which provides support for research career development of otolaryngologists, were presented here in January at the Triological Society Combined Sections Meeting. Researchers shared several points, including that male recipients outnumber female recipients, most recipients are in academic medicine, and recipients are often promoted to senior faculty positions.

The awards are meant to support the research of otolaryngologists who are early in their careers, according to the Society.

Researchers reviewed data on the 70 award recipients since 2004. Forty-seven men and 23 women have received the awards, said Christina Dorismond, MPH, a third-year medical student at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, as she presented the data. In addition, 67 recipients, or 96%, are in an academic practice, and 40% have received NIH funding as principle investigators or project leads since their awards, she said. Half of the recipients had MD degrees only, while a quarter had an MD and a PhD, and another quarter had an MD with a master’s degree. About a quarter of the recipients had achieved the rank of full professor, and half were associate professor.

The average h-index, a measure of scholarly impact of the CDA recipients—pulled from the Scopus abstract and citation database—was 16.9, significantly higher than the average for all academic otolaryngologists (p<0.001), she said. The h-index went up as academic rank went up, researchers found.

More mechanisms to support the research career of female otolaryngologists are needed. —Christina Dorismond, MPH

The researchers found that there was a significant difference between male and female CDA recipients with regard to citation index and NIH funding rates.

The h-index was significantly higher for male recipients than female recipients, Dorismond said. (p<0.001)

There was also a striking difference between genders in NIH-funding status based on NIH RePORTER data. Two of the 19 female recipients, or 10.5%, had receiving NIH funding, while 24, or 52.2%, of the male recipients had, Dorismond said.

“More mechanisms to support the research career of female otolaryngologists are needed,” she said.

Adam Zanation, MD, professor of otolaryngology-head and neck surgery at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, as well as the paper’s senior author and a former CDA recipient, said the results show “the differential needs for support for female academic physicians. We as academic leaders need to highly consider more mechanisms to support the research career of female academic otolaryngologists.”

“The Triological Society continues to promote diversity within the Society, and Career Development Award applications are encouraged from all qualified candidates,” said Gerald S. Berke, MD, Triological Society Research Liaison. “We are pleased that a greater number of female otolaryngologists have applied within the past two years, increasing the total number of awards to female researchers. In 2018 and 2019, 60% of the Career Development grants were awarded to female otolaryngologists.”