Diversity and Inclusion Analysis of the Association of Program Directors in Surgery's Annual Conference From 2010 to 2022

Abstract

Introduction: Explored the diversity and inclusion of our annual meeting. The authors compared our members' diversity to the participation in the impactful portions of our annual conference as a measure of our organizational inclusion.

Methods: The authors retrospectively reviewed and calculated the diversity demographics of our membership based on our 2022 data. Demographics consisted of institutional affiliation and gender. Also the authors retrospectively analyzed the topics discussed at our annual meeting from 2010 to 2022.

Results: In 2022, the Association of Program Directors in Surgery (APDS) had 308 members; while we had 100% of the institutional affiliation, most members did not self-report gender or ethnicity information. One hundred eleven members self-reported gender information in 2022: 76% were men and 24% were women. Fifty-seven percent of our institutions had a medical school affiliation, 40% had a nonmedical school affiliation, and 3% had a military instillation affiliation.

Conclusion: The authors' current analysis demonstrates disparities in the distribution of meaningful space in the APDS meeting program. Future efforts are ongoing to identify members and their demographics, track participation, and encourage more diverse involvement across membership.

Keywords: diversity; equity; inclusion; organizational diversity; organizational inclusive behavior.