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Research Snapshot Theater: Professional Development and Education, Pediatric II

Pandemic Effects on Academic Productivity by Career Stage and Gender of Pediatric Intensivists

Monday, March 23, 2026

10:15 AM - 11:15 AM Central Time

Location: Connections Central - RST 15

Shira J. Gertz, MD, FCCM (she/her/hers)

Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center, New Jersey

Disclosure(s): No relevant financial relationship(s) to disclose.
AM

Anastasia Mamkin, n/a

Student
Binghamton University

Disclosure information not submitted.
AM

Alexandra Mrani, MD

Research Coordinator
Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center, New Jersey

Disclosure information not submitted.
GP

Gayathri Prabhakar, MD

null
null

Disclosure(s): No relevant financial relationship(s) to disclose.
SB

Sonali Basu, MD

Attending Physician
Childrens National Health Systems

Disclosure information not submitted.
KW

Kitman Wai, MD

Attending Physician
Childrens National Health Systems

Disclosure information not submitted.

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic had a divided impact on pediatric intensivists’ academic productivity, simultaneously increasing COVID-19 related output while decreasing overall productivity due to escalated clinical and non-clinical obligations. This study evaluated scholarly output among early career intensivists both pre and post pandemic.

Methods: National Provider Identifier Registry, Doximity, program websites and personal communication were used to identify U.S. pediatric critical care fellowship graduates and gender. Pediatric critical care certification status confirmed via American Board of Pediatrics. Scopus database queried for Hirsch index (h-index) values and publication counts. A pre-pandemic cohort (fellowship completion: 2015-2016, data extracted 2021) and a post-pandemic cohort (fellowship completion: 2019-2020, data extracted 2025) were compared. Data reported as medians and interquartile range (IQR) with analysis of variance used to compare groups.

Results: The 2025 dataset has 330 fellowship graduates in 2019-2020, with 92.7% board certified by 2022, a median h-index of 2 (IQR 0-5), and a median of 3 (IQR 1-9) publications. Of these, 197 were women with similar metrics. In the 2015-2016 cohort (n=298), 86.5% were board certified by 2018, a median h-index of 3 (IQR 0-7) and a median of 5 (IQR 1-16) publications. 166 were women with similar metrics. The 2021 dataset has 197 graduates from 2015-2016 with a median h-index of 2 (IQR 1-4) and a median of 4 (IQR 1-9) publications. Again 109 women had similar metrics. No significant differences in academic productivity were found between pre and post pandemic cohorts (p=0.53) or between genders (p=0.23). Additional comparisons of a 2011-2012 cohort from the 2021 dataset (n=200, h-index 3 [IQR 1-7], publications 6.5 [IQR 2-15]) with the 2015-2016 cohort from the 2025 dataset yielded no differences (p=0.39).

Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic did not significantly impact the h-index and number of publications of early and early mid-career intensivists. The extent to which COVID-19 related scholarship influenced overall productivity remains unclear, as do potential changes in other academic output measures across the pre and post pandemic eras.