25 - Analysis of Leadership Positions and H-index in Academic Interventional Radiology

Monday, March 31, 2025

12:10 PM – 1:10 PM CT

Location: Music City Center, Expo Poster Area

Poster Presenter(s)

Jasmine Lee (she/her/hers)

Medical Student
Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, United States

Author/Co-author(s)

MI

Mahee Islam, MD

Resident Physician
Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, United States
BH

Bunchhin Huy, DO

Resident Physician
Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, United States
Srinidhi Shanmugasundaram, MD (she/her/hers)

Resident Physician
Hospital of University of Pennsylvania, United States
Abhishek Kumar, MD

Division Chief of Vascular and Interventional Radiology
Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, United States
Pratik A. Shukla, MD

Director and Associate Professor of Interventional Radiology
Rutgers - New Jersey Medical School, United States

Purpose: To evaluate whether there is an association between institutional leadership positions and h-index among US academic interventional radiologists.

Materials and Methods: A database containing all academic US interventional radiologists and their region, institution, academic rank, gender, h-index values, and NIH grant funding was created for previous studies evaluating h-index and NIH grant funding. 2023 H-index data was obtained through the online Scopus database. Leadership data was obtained from institutional websites. Leadership positions, specifically Chair, Vice Chair, Chief, and Associate Chief, held by each interventional radiologist, both past and current appointments, were recorded.

Results: Among the 833 academic interventional radiologists, 163 physicians held at least one leadership position at some point in their career, 150 being male (92%) and 13 being female (8%). Of those who held leadership positions, 25% held Chair positions, 14% held Vice Chair positions, 72% held Chief positions, and 4% held Associate Chief positions at one point in their career. Because some physicians held multiple leadership positions throughout their careers, they were counted more than once. The median h-index of interventional radiologists who held any leadership position was 14.50 (5.25 – 18.90). There was a significant difference in h-index between interventional radiologists who held at least one leadership position and those who did not hold any (p < .001). When comparing leadership positions, there was also a significant difference in h-index between interventional radiologists who were Chairs and those who were Chiefs (p=0.015) or Associate Chiefs (p=0.047). The same relationship was found when evaluating male interventional radiologists, with Chairs having a median h-index of 20.00 (13.00 – 37.00), Chiefs having a median h-index of 11.00 (5.00 – 22.00), and Associate Chiefs a median h-index of 3.00 (1.75 – 4.00). Interestingly, female interventional radiologists only held Chief positions in this study with a median h-index of 10.00 (3.00 – 16.00).

Conclusion: H-index has a significant association with leadership when comparing Chair and Chief or Associate Chief positions among interventional radiologists. There were no significant differences in h-index values when comparing other combinations of the four leadership positions evaluated in this study. Due to the small number of female interventional radiologists in this study, further investigation is necessary to elucidate any relationship between gender, h-index, and institutional leadership positions.