Presidents of the North American Skull Base Society: Analysis of Leadership Attributes and Innovation

Introduction: Since its inception in 1989, the North American Skull Base Society (NASBS) has been instrumental in innovating the field of skull base surgery through clinical excellence and rigorous research. Many of the accomplishments achieved by the society over the past three decades may be attributed to the strong leadership that has been instrumental in shaping the NASBS’ identity. We aimed to chronicle the accomplishments and academic attributes of the past NASBS presidents to determine how trends in NASBS presidents have changed over time as well as offer valuable information for the next generation of skull base surgeons.

Methods: The NASBS website was used to ascertain the names of all presidents serving from 1990 to 2021. Demographic and scholarly variables were collected from several publicly available sources and employed in linear and logistic regression models.

Results: Over the course of its history, the NASBS has had 31 presidents with 13 (42%) being otolaryngologists, 12 (39%) being neurosurgeons, and 6 trained in other specialties (19%; [Fig. 1]). Presidents had an average age at election of 53.3 ± 6.1 years, all were male, and 7 (22.6%) were of non-white race. Eight (26%) presidents held another degree in addition to their MD with the most common being a PhD (13%, n = 4; [Fig. 2]). The most common institution for residency (13%, n = 4), fellowship (n = 8, 30%), and practice (9.6%, n = 3) was University of Pittsburgh Medical Center ([Figs. 3] and [4]). A linear relationship was noted between years of research experience and time of election (p = 0.048). Presidents specializing in neurosurgery (p = 0.033), or other specialties (p = 0.014) were both more likely to hold departmental chair positions compared to their otolaryngologist colleagues. There was no change in president’s age across time and publications did not differ significantly between groups or over time. There remains a lack of diversity of gender and race.

Conclusions: The NASBS presidents represent a distinguished group of skull base clinicians arising from multiple specialties that value research as demonstrated by their increased involvement over time. While the NASBS has had a history of robust leadership and an excellent academic pedigree, there remains a lack of both racial and gender diversity within the society’s leaders that will likely change in the coming generation, as diversity is increasing in the skull base field.

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Artikel online veröffentlicht:
05. Februar 2024