A new study highlights notable gender disparities in industry payments to cardiothoracic surgeons, prompting calls for action within the medical community.
The findings, presented by Dr Sofia Viana at the 2026 Society of Thoracic Surgeons Annual Meeting, show that female surgeons received significantly less income from medical device and pharmaceutical companies in 2023 compared to their male colleagues.
Analysing Open Payments data, Viana and her team found that male surgeons earned over $8.6 million, while female surgeons earned just under $767,000.
The median payments favoured men across specialties and career stages, with notable differences among surgeons with varying years of experience.
When stratified by career length, disparities persisted primarily among those with five to ten years of practice, while surgeons with fewer than five years showed no significant difference.
Among highly published surgeons (those with more than 100 papers), men still out-earn women, highlighting ongoing gender disparities even among senior and prolific researchers.
The study clarified that gender alone does not directly influence payment differences; rather, clinical position and research opportunities, which are often affected by gender, play a role.
Multivariate analysis indicated that clinical role, rather than specifically gender, largely accounted for the disparities.
Among the most revealing findings were the top five consulting fee payments, which showed significant gender gaps.
Men received substantially higher fees from companies, and when it came to royalties, the contrast was starker: men received payments, whereas women received nothing.
These disparities have sparked discussions about the underlying causes.
Dr Viana urges companies to proactively review their consultant rosters and increase female representation.
Meanwhile, medical students and peers suggest that industry can play a pivotal role in addressing implicit bias by promoting diversity and inclusion at the leadership level.
Shubham Gulati (Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY), a medical student who published a similar study in 2025, said much of the onus to close these gaps should fall to pharmaceutical and device companies.
He notes that female surgeons often feel undervalued, not seen as equally qualified or recognised as male surgeons, although this perception is changing.
Gulati also points out that the landscape is shifting – soon, the presidency of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons will be held by a female surgeon, reflecting progress over the past two decades.
However, he emphasises that further research is needed, particularly to understand how industry officials select their consultants, and whether unconscious biases still influence these decisions
