Women are underrepresented as top surgical performers as assessed by case volumes in the state of New York

Background: Data regarding gender disparities in surgeon case volumes across subspecialties is sparse. Methods: Through the use of the New York SPARCS database, top 25 yearly performers of major surgical procedures were identified for each year from 2000 to 2014. Gender and academic affiliation was determined. Results: Breast surgery had the highest number (51.6%) of female top performers by surgical volume. Higher number of female surgeons in bariatric and breast surgery were associated with academic institutions (p < 0.001). Significantly higher number of female plastic surgeons were associated with community institutions (p = 0.02). While there was an increase in female top performers during the study period, the number of female top performing surgeons remained disproportionately low compared to male top performing surgeons. There were no female surgeons among the top performers in vascular, orthopedics, cardiac, and urology during the studied period. Conclusions: There is a gender disparity in surgeon case volumes. While some subspecialties showed some increase in female top performers, the majority remained male-dominated fields during the fifteen-year period.