S2988 Trends in Racial and Gender Diversity Among Gastroenterology Fellowship Trainees Over the Last Decade and Impact of COVID on This Trend

Introduction: Diversity in a health care system has many benefits, especially in underserved communities. Providing care to a diverse population by diverse physicians may translate to better compliance and outcomes. Unfortunately, there is a significant under-representation of women and certain racial minorities in the gastroenterology (GI) workforce. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the trends in racial and gender diversity in GI fellowship. We also examined the impact of COVID on the female and racial representation. Methods: ACGME data were queried to identify GI trainees between 2014 and 2024. Trainees were identified based on self-reported race and gender. We defined 2016 to 2020 and 2021 to 2024 era as pre and post COVID years respectively. We also analyzed the ERAS application data for race and gender between 2015 to 2024. Student’s T-test was used to assess differences between groups. Results: We found gender gap with the women and men representing 35.6% and 64.0% of the fellows respectively [P < 0.05]. There is a significant increase in female representation in GI fellowship across the study period from 2014-2015 to 2023-2024 and in post compared with pre COVID era. Blacks represented a lower proportion of GI fellows compared to Whites and Asians. Asians had the highest female representation, followed by Whites, Hispanics, and Blacks. Conclusion: This study confirms the disparities in gender and racial minority representation within ACGME-accredited GI Fellowship programs. While there is an increase in percentages of female fellows, Blacks’ representation has remained stagnant.