Comparing Predictors for Leadership in Surgical Subspecialty National Organizations.

Background: Analyzing characteristics of national leaders in surgery can provide insight into the factors that contribute to their success. Methods: The names of the 2024 executive board and past presidents were collected from national surgical subspecialty organizations. A cross-sectional analysis of training and leadership backgrounds was conducted from information gathered online. Logistic regression was used to analyze predictors for executive positions. Results: A total of 871 leaders from 48 organizations were characterized, including 66 plastic surgeons. Most (84.5%) leaders completed a subspecialty-specific fellowship and had a mean of 3.6 institutional positions. The number of chief/chair positions (odds ratio [95% confidence interval] = 1.55 [1.31-1.84]) and editor positions (1.11 [1.02-1.23]) were associated with increased odds of being a national vice president/president, whereas completing multiple fellowships was associated with decreased odds (odds ratio [95% confidence interval] = 0.56 [0.35-0.88]). Plastic surgery leaders had higher rates of no fellowship training (22.7% versus 5.5%) and a lower average number of industry positions (0.1 versus 0.4) compared with those in other fields. Compared with presidents in other specialties, plastic surgery presidents had lower rates of subspecialty-specific fellowship training (72.2% versus 84.9%). Conclusions: Experience leading at the institutional level is correlated with national surgical leadership. Our findings may help guide young plastic surgeons hoping to become involved at the national level.