A cross-sectional survey explored a women-centered continuing medical education (CME) conference's association with differences in productivity metrics toward career advancement. Of 425 women attendees at a 2019 CME conference for professional growth, wellness and networking, 389 (91.5%) respondents completed the survey. Respondents were categorized as either first-time (FT) attendees or previous attendees (PV). The participants were working in academia, hospitals and other, such as private practice. Anesthesiology, family medicine, internal medicine and pediatrics were the most represented fields. According to the data, in the year preceding the survey, PV attendees were more likely than FT attendees to have published a manuscript as a first-author or co-author in a peer-reviewed journal (17.5% vs. 9.7%), lectured in their practice area (48.3% vs. 27.9%), to have mentored at least one peer (40.8% vs. 27.5%) and to have requested a promotion (15.8% vs. 8.6%). Women physicians who previously attended a woman-centered CME conference were more likely than first-timers to achieve career performance metrics including publications and speaking engagements in the preceding year, the researchers said. "Professional conferences focused on career advancement of women physicians may represent a tool to promote women leaders in medicine," the authors conclude.

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