Underrepresentation in Surgical Societies: A Specialty-Focused Analysis of ACS and SUS Membership

Abstract

Background

Analyzing the representation of specialties within professional surgical societies provides insight into differences in specialty composition across professional organizations. This study compares membership by surgical specialty in the American College of Surgeons (ACS) and Society of University Surgeons (SUS) to national counts.

Study Design

ACS data was sourced from 2024 ACS Fellowship Statistics while SUS member data was sourced from their public member directory. Proportions of specialties within ACS and SUS were compared to national representation (active board certificates). Analyses were performed across ACS-recognized surgical subspecialties to evaluate differences in representation between ACS, SUS, and national distributions.

Results

This study analyzed 59,148 ACS Fellows, 1574 SUS members, and 201,820 active board-certified surgeons, revealing significant differences in the representation of surgical specialties across these categories (P < 0.001). In contrast to general surgery and specialties that require a formal general surgery training, many surgical subspecialties were represented at proportions lower than their national board certification distributions in the ACS and SUS.

Conclusion

This study revealed significant differences in surgical subspecialty representation within larger professional surgical societies. Targeted efforts improving engagement across surgical fields is imperative to promote representation and facilitate collaborative efforts.