title: Equity in surgical leadership for women: more work to do.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Sex disparity in the Program Director role has not been studied. The goal of this study is to evaluate the percentage of women in Chair and Program Director positions. We hypothesize that there is a higher percentage of women in the Program Director role than Chair role.
  
  
  METHODS
  An Internet search identified Chairs, Program Directors, Associate Program Directors, and Division Chiefs. Statistical analysis compared percentages of women in these roles at all institutions, academic/community programs, and regions.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There is higher female representation in the Program Director position than Chair position (P = .002) in General Surgery, Otolaryngology, and Orthopedics. More women are Associate Program Directors than Division Chiefs (23.6% vs 9.8%, P ≤ .001). Academic and community programs are no different. In the West, a greater percentage of women are Chairs as compared with the other regions (P ≤ .002).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There are higher rates of women in Program Director position than Department Chair position. This discrepancy warrants further investigation.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, University of California, 200 West Arbor Drive, San Diego, CA 92103, USA.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Weiss
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, University of California, 200 West Arbor Drive, San Diego, CA 92103, USA.
authors.forename: Katherine C
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, University of California, 200 West Arbor Drive, San Diego, CA 92103, USA.
authors.forename: Viridiana
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Tapia
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, University of California, 200 West Arbor Drive, San Diego, CA 92103, USA.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: Davis School of Medicine, University of California, 4610 X Street, Davis, Sacramento, CA 95817, USA.
authors.forename: Julie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Freischlag
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, University of California, 200 West Arbor Drive, San Diego, CA 92103, USA.
authors.forename: Sarah L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Blair
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, University of California, 200 West Arbor Drive, San Diego, CA 92103, USA. Electronic address: sramamoorthy@mail.ucsd.edu.
authors.forename: Sonia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ramamoorthy
mesh_terms: D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004503:Education, Medical, Graduate / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005180:Faculty, Medical / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000600:supply & distribution*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007857:Leadership; D010822:Physicians, Women / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000600:supply & distribution*; D063507:Sexism; D013043:Specialties, Surgical / Q000193:education* / Q000458:organization & administration; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014481:United States
keywords: Program Director; Sex disparity; Surgical leadership; Women in surgery