Educational background, professional experience, and research productivity of Canada's academic ophthalmology leadership.

Objective: The aim of the study was to assess the educational background, professional experience, and research productivity of Canada's academic ophthalmology leadership.

Methods: This cross-sectional study focused on leaders from ophthalmology departments at 15 Canadian universities, as well as the Canadian Journal of Ophthalmology (CJO) editorial board and the Canadian Ophthalmological Society (COS) board of directors.

Results: Ninety-one academic leaders were identified, which included 15 chairs, 9 vice chairs, 17 hospital chiefs, and 15 program directors. Additionally, the 10 members of the COS board of directors and the 31 members of the editorial board of the CJO were included. The duration of professional experience was the longest for hospital chiefs (26.63 ± 7.08 years) followed by chairs (23.86 ± 6.11 years) (p < 0.001). Chairs had the largest mean number of publications (87.13 ± 73.17), followed by vice chairs (70.89 ± 78.29) (p = 0.012). The most common residency programs attended by position holders were offered by the University of Toronto, followed by McGill University. Forty-three academic ophthalmology leaders graduated from U.S. fellowship training programs (48.3%). CJO editors were most likely to have a professor appointment (p = 0.002), fellowship training (p = 0.042), U.S. fellowship training (p = 0.007), a larger number of publications (p = 0.006), and a greater h-index (p = 0.001).

Conclusion: Chairs followed by vice chairs demonstrated the highest mean number of publications and h-index. More than half of the academic leaders had fellowship training either in the U.S. or Toronto. Prospective ophthalmologists interested in academic leadership may leverage these data to strategically guide their professional careers.