A New Era of Ophthalmology Leadership? A Descriptive and Comparative Analysis of Ophthalmology Department Chairs in 2024

Purpose

To (1) characterize and analyze the demographics and scholarly achievements of United States (US) academic ophthalmology department chairs, and (2) to elucidate trends in the academic and demographic profiles of newly hired department chairs.

Design

Cross-sectional study.

Methods

Online search of publicly available resources conducted January 1, 2024.

Patient or Study Population

One hundred seven ophthalmology chairs of accredited US departments.

Main Outcome Measures

Department chair demographic and academic data.

Results

Of 107 chairs analyzed, 83% (89/107) are male. The mean age of chairs is 60.9 ± 7.9 years and the mean age at appointment is 51.9 ± 7.6 years. There has been significant turnover in department chairs recently, with 47 (44%) chairs having been newly appointed in the past 7 years. Approximately 40% (n = 41) of current chairs completed ≥1 component of their medical training at the program where they are currently chair. Approximately one-third (33/107 [31%]) of current chairs earned an additional graduate degree, most frequently a PhD (17/107 [16%]), MBA (10/107 [8%]), and MS (8/107 [4%]). More than 96% (n = 103) of chairs completed a clinical fellowship, often in vitreoretinal surgery (30/107 [28%]), cornea (27/107 [25%]), or glaucoma (24/107 [22%]). The average number of peer-reviewed publications among chairs is 214.9 ± 294.7 (range 0-1901), and the mean h-index is 35.0 ± 25.4 (range 0-147). When comparing profiles of newly appointed chairs in the past 7 years to chairs appointed before 2017, there was not a statistically significant difference in gender distribution (21% female vs 13% female, respectively, P = .276). Newly hired chairs were significantly older at the time of their appointment to chair (54 years vs 50 years, respectively, P = .008) and averaged significantly more years from residency completion to appointment as chair (23 years vs 19 years, respectively, P = .005).

Conclusions

Ophthalmology department chairs remain predominantly fellowship-trained males who have frequently trained at the institution they currently chair. Newly hired chairs have accumulated more experience before their appointment, starting the role later in their careers, with implications for the frequency of future chair turnover. While females compose a higher proportion of newly hired chairs in the past 7 years compared with previous periods of time, females remain underrepresented in ophthalmology chair positions.