Expectant Management of Patients with Ventral Hernias: 3 Years of Follow-up.

Background: The safety and effectiveness of expectant management (e.g., watchful waiting or initially managing non-operatively) for patients with a ventral hernia is unknown.

Gender Disparity in Authorship of Peer-Reviewed Medical Publications.

Background: Women are underrepresented in medicine despite increases in the percentage of female physicians. It is unknown if academic productivity contributes to these differences. We sought to determine whether gender disparity exists in peer-reviewed literature authorship in the United States from 2000 to 2017.

Are online surgical discussion boards a safe and useful venue for surgeons to ask for advice? A review of the International Hernia Collaboration Facebook Group.

Background: Social media is a growing medium for disseminating information among surgeons. The International Hernia Collaboration Facebook Group (IHC) is a widely utilized social media platform to share ideas and advice on managing patients with hernia-related diseases. Our objective was to assess the safety and utility of advice provided.

Gender Disparity in Surgery: An Evaluation of Surgical Societies.

The percentage of female surgeons and surgery residents has increased slowly to 24% and 35%, respectively. However, women remain under-represented in surgical leadership positions (<20%). Society awards and leadership positions are used for hiring and promoting surgeons.

Exploring the role of ethnicity on perceptions of cancer and physical health recovery during the first year of survivorship.

This study examined the role of ethnicity (Black vs White) in the extent to which patients' appraisal of the impact of cancer on themselves and their family members relates to their physical health. Colorectal cancer patients provided self-reports for study variables at 2 and 12 months post-diagnosis (N = 60). Hierarchical regression analysis revealed that African American patients' perception of the cancer as disruptive to their family, but not to themselves, related to poorer health recovery, which association was absent among Whites (p < .