xRead - Mentorship in Otolaryngology Trainees (March 2026)

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Ear, Nose & Throat Journal 00(0)

Data Availability Statement The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request. Declaration of Conflicting Interests The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. Funding The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. Ethical Considerations Exemption status was obtained from the Institutional Review Board at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

applicants and OHNS faculty. In addition, this study focuses on gender equity without considering the impact of other personal identities such as race and ethnicity. It is well known that gender, race, and ethnicity have a signifi cant impact on pay equity and job promotion within aca demic medicine. Future research should investigate the impact of both gender and racial identity on the diversity of leadership positions as well as on resident and faculty cohorts within OHNS. Second, in this study, leadership is confined to academic rank. There are multiple leadership opportunities both in and out of academic medicine that should be considered when discussing leadership within OHNS. Women involved in quality improvement pro grams within their academic or private practice as well as those involved in national committees, editorial boards, and diversity, equity, and inclusion or wellness initiatives play significant roles in the advancement of women in the specialty. We also recognize the leadership value that funded women private investigators hold and commend them on their important contributions to the specialty. Inclusion of academic leadership positions alone is a sig nificant limitation and future research should focus on the leadership endeavors of women across OHNS. Third, data was obtained from program websites and social media, which has the potential to be inaccurate or outdated and may have influenced our results, although we consider this impact to be minor. Finally, gender was assessed using personal pronouns and photographs available on departmental websites and does not conform to the gold standard of self-identified gender. In addition, this study focused on binary gender equity; how ever, a comprehensive evaluation of gender equity would include an analysis of those identifying as transgender and other gender minorities. Although no examined studies used nonbinary gender classifications, future research should aim to better confirm self-identified gender and should provide an inclusive analysis of nonbinary gender diversity. Conclusion Gender diversity and the availability of women mentor ship and role models may have an impact on the promo tion, retention, and recruitment of women in academic medicine. The proportion of women in Otolaryngology has increased over the past decade at the resident, faculty, program director, and department chair rank. Representation of women in any OHNS leadership posi tion (medical school dean, program director, fellowship director, and department chair) is also correlated with an increase in OHNS women faculty. Although significant progress has been made, further understanding of how woman mentorship promotes gender equity is necessary to implement initiatives that promote the representation of women in Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery.

Consent to Participate Not applicable. Consent for Publication Not applicable.

ORCID iD Nicole G. DeSisto

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2070-2897

Supplemental Material Supplemental material for this article is available online.

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