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Predictors of Academic Career Trajectory Among Fellowship-Trained Neurosurgical Oncologists

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Abstract

Much research has been conducted to investigate predictors of an academic career trajectory among neurosurgeons in general. This study seeks to examine a cohort of fellowship-trained neurosurgical oncologists to determine which factors are associated with a career in academia. Publicly available data on fellowship-trained neurosurgical oncologists was aggregated from ACGME-accredited residency websites, from program websites listed on the AANS Neurosurgical Fellowship Training Program Directory, and from professional websites including Doximity. Bivariate analyses were conducted to determine covariates for a logistic regression model, and a multivariate analysis was conducted to determine which variables were independently associated with an academic career trajectory. A total of 87 neurosurgical oncologists were identified (1991–2018). A total of 73 (83.9%) had > 1 year of protected research time in residency, 33 (37.9%) had an h-index of ≥2 prior to residency, and 63 (72.4%) had an h-index of ≥2 during residency. In multivariate analysis, the only factor independently associated with academic career trajectory among neurosurgical oncologists was achieving an h-index of ≥2 during residency (odds ratio [OR] = 2.93, p = .041). Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center graduated the most neurosurgical oncologists in our cohort (n = 23). Our study establishes a novel factor that is predictive of academic career trajectory among fellowship-trained neurosurgical oncologists, specifically having an h-index of ≥2 during residency. Our results may be useful for those mentoring students and trainees with an interest in pursuing academia.

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Author notes

  1. Adham M. Khalafallah and Adrian E. Jimenez contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurosurgery, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 1800 Orleans Street, Baltimore, MD, 21287, USA

    Adham M. Khalafallah, Adrian E. Jimenez & Debraj Mukherjee

Authors
  1. Adham M. Khalafallah
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  2. Adrian E. Jimenez
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  3. Debraj Mukherjee
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Contributions

AK and AJ: conception or design of the work. AK and AJ: data collection. AK, AJ, and DM: data analysis and interpretation. AK, AJ, and DM: drafting the article. AK, AJ, and DM: critical revision of the article. AK, AJ, and DM: final approval of the version to be published.

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Correspondence to Debraj Mukherjee.

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Khalafallah, A.M., Jimenez, A.E. & Mukherjee, D. Predictors of Academic Career Trajectory Among Fellowship-Trained Neurosurgical Oncologists. J Canc Educ 37, 430–438 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13187-020-01833-y

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