Hello, everybody. My name is George Katsouris. I'm a fourth-year neurosurgical resident at the SUNY Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse, New York. Today I talk about our project titled Toward Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, a Worldwide Survey of Female Neurosurgeons. I'd like to thank my co-authors for their contribution to the project. This is our abstract. You may find in the abstract center in the AANS section. Why our project matters. So we aim to describe the gender disparities seen throughout the worldwide female neurosurgical community. So this field of neurosurgery's greatness should encourage the best and the brightest regardless of gender, race, or ethnicity. Despite that, only about 12% of neurosurgeons are females in the United States of America. It matters because it's better for our patients, it's better for the field, and it's also better for the perception of the field. Our two main study objectives were to understand the experiences of women in academic and non-academic neurosurgery throughout the globe, as well as to elucidate the factors that have impacted women's ability to advance in their careers and their perception of neurosurgery as a career in total. Our study was a 58-item cross-sectional survey that was disseminated to the global female neurosurgery community. It was distributed over a two-year time frame via online platforms. Anonymity was completely maintained. We utilized a set of analytical tests to outline categorical and continuous variables to differentiate between groups. Female neurosurgeons from 43 nations were represented in the survey among six of seven continents. There were 237 total respondents from those 43 nations. 40% were between the ages of 26 and 35, as well as 40% had no children. 45% were the sole female neurosurgeon in their practice. 43% felt overall support from their department, leaving 57% not feeling supported. Of all respondents, approximately 50% had a mentor, and of those, 22% stated that their mentor was a woman. Of those that were associate professors, most were seen in North America when compared to other continents. So when asked the question of what could attract more women to the field of neurosurgery, three top factors were defined. Having a senior mentor, having more flexible hours in the field, and having more equitable relationships among their colleagues. The best aspects of being a neurosurgeon were, operating was number one, an opportunity to make a difference, and patients' family interactions. The worst aspects were the loss of personal time, the impact on family, and the physical emotional burden of the job. When asked the question of would you go back and change their career, regardless of continent or job title or age, there was no difference seen. Most were very satisfied with their career choice, as seen as the average career satisfaction was 8.3 out of 10. Those who were satisfied were more likely to be younger and more likely to be in academia when compared to non-academic professions. When looking at career satisfaction and comparing female neurosurgeons throughout the world and different continents, or ethnicity or marital status, the number of hours worked or operating room days, or job title or academic rank, there were no significant differences seen. Once again, those in an academic setting report a higher career satisfaction when compared to non-academic professions. Going back, although a majority of our cohort decided to postpone pregnancy because of work, there was no difference seen amongst the various job titles such as associate assistant professor or resident physician. Of those that decided to get pregnant, 80% said that they weren't supported during their pregnancy. This was a platform for female neurosurgeons throughout the globe to voice their perspectives regarding gender disparities in neurosurgery. In conclusion, we saw that women were largely satisfied with their careers in neurosurgery and they were more likely to be satisfied if they were in academia. When asked how could we attract more women into the field, mentorship was overwhelmingly seen as the top choice and having more equitable partnerships between men and women in the field can also help attract more females into the field. This survey ultimately hopes to create proposals that could be applied locally and internationally to improve the gender-related gap as we aim to close gender disparities in neurosurgery and help burgeon the field and support women in this wonderful field of neurosurgery. Thank you very much. Thank you to my fellow co-authors and the female neurosurgeons throughout the world that participated.

neurosurgery

gender disparities

diversity

career advancement

mentorship