Retina TodayHow To Increase Diversity on the Podium

Women now fill 36.6% of faculty roles at major retina meetings, up from 22.1% in 2015, but the pipeline remains uneven: only 25% of retina fellows are women and just 3.2% of retina specialists identify as underrepresented minorities.

Professional Impact

• Meetings with at least one woman on the program committee are significantly more likely to include female moderators, panelists, and total faculty, making committee composition the highest-leverage intervention.
• URiM representation in retina fellowship reached 6.8% in the 2025 match, more than double the 3.2% currently practicing, signaling that mentorship pipelines are beginning to work.
• Elimination of the URiM checkbox from ophthalmology residency applications in 2025 removes the ability to track diversity progress, undermining outcome measurement for programs designed to improve it.
• Diverse providers serve diverse communities: URiM and female physicians disproportionately practice in underserved areas, making workforce representation a direct patient care equity issue.

Action Items

• Nominate women and URiM colleagues for program committee roles at retina and ophthalmology meetings.
• Refer URiM trainees to ASRS Empowerment and Opportunity and Retina Society RESOURCE mentoring programs.
• Update ASRS member profiles with background data to preserve specialty-wide diversity tracking after loss of the residency checkbox.

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