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Unconscious Bias in Speaker Introductions at a Surgical Oncology Meeting: Hierarchy Reigns Over Gender

  • Health Services Research and Global Oncology
  • Published:
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Abstract

Background

Recent reviews of medical conferences have shown that women were less likely to receive a formal introduction compared with men. We examined speaker introductions at the Society of Surgical Oncology (SSO) annual meeting to determine whether similar biases exist within our organization.

Methods

An observational study of video-archived speaker introductions at the 2018 and 2019 SSO annual meetings was conducted. Professional address was defined as professional title followed by full name or last name. Multivariable logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with form of address.

Results

There were 499 speaker introductions reviewed. Speakers included 290 (58%) men and 238 (49%) post-graduate trainees (residents and fellows). A non-professional form of address was used to introduce 148 (30%) speakers and was most often used for post-graduate trainees (33%). Full professors were more likely than junior faculty to introduce speakers with a non-professional form of address (37% of full professors vs 18% of assistant professors, p < 0.001). In multivariable regression analysis these findings persisted. Trainees were 2.8 times more likely to receive a non-professional form of address (p = 0.003). Use of a non-professional introduction did not significantly vary by the speaker’s nor the introducer’s gender.

Conclusions

Residents and fellows were more likely to receive a non-professional form of address, and the likelihood of this increased with rising seniority of the introducer. The manner of speaker introduction did not vary by gender in our organization. More research is needed to explore the influence of these disparities on academic advancement for the next generation of surgical oncologists.

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Acknowledgements

Dr. Susanne G. Warner is supported through the generosity of Natalie & David Roberts. The authors wish to thank them for their philanthropy. The authors would also like to thank Luke Stewart for assistance with creating the choropleth in Fig. 1.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Surgical Oncology, Department of Surgery, City of Hope National Medical Center, Duarte, CA, USA

    Camille L. Stewart MD, James P. De Andrade MD, Oliver K. Ralph MS, Kevin Choong MD, Lorena Gonzalez MD, Ethan Sandoval, Laleh G. Melstrom MD & Susanne G. Warner MD

  2. Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology, Medical Oncology and Palliative Care, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, USA

    Narjust Duma MD

  3. Department of Surgery, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Torrance, CA, USA

    Natalie C. McClintock MD

Authors
  1. Camille L. Stewart MD
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  2. James P. De Andrade MD
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  3. Narjust Duma MD
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  4. Oliver K. Ralph MS
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  5. Kevin Choong MD
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  6. Lorena Gonzalez MD
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  7. Natalie C. McClintock MD
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  8. Ethan Sandoval
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  9. Laleh G. Melstrom MD
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  10. Susanne G. Warner MD
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Camille L. Stewart MD.

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Disclosures

None of the authors have any commercial interests that are relevant to the findings of this manuscript. The following authors have disclosures: ND participates in consulting/advising for Astrazeneca and Inivata, Inc. SW is supported by the American Cancer Society Mentored Research Scholar Grant: MRSG-16-047-01-MPC, and by the generosity of the Natalie and David Roberts Family. The remaining authors have no disclosures.

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Stewart, C.L., De Andrade, J.P., Duma, N. et al. Unconscious Bias in Speaker Introductions at a Surgical Oncology Meeting: Hierarchy Reigns Over Gender. Ann Surg Oncol 27, 3754–3761 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1245/s10434-020-08906-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1245/s10434-020-08906-8

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