# The Impact of Surgeon Factors and Education/Training on Disparities in Surgical Care.

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES · 2021 · $635,441

## Abstract

Project Summary
Evidence indicates that racial and ethnic minority patients undergoing surgery receive worse quality care and
experience worse outcomes than White patients do in the U.S. “Clinician factors” are one of five key
determinants of surgical disparities identified at the National Institutes of Health and American College of
Surgeons Summit in 2015. However, little is known about the characteristics of surgeons who deliver high-
quality care to racial and ethnic minority patients, and whether education and training surgeons received affect
surgical disparities. These knowledge gaps have hindered efforts to develop interventions that can effectively
close the disparity gap in surgical care. The proposed R01 project will create a comprehensive, multi-level
database that includes detailed information about patients, surgeons, medical schools surgeons attended, and
residency programs surgeons completed, by linking four large, nationally-representative datasets: (1) Medicare
data, (2) comprehensive physician database assembled by Doximity, (3) the AAMC Medical School database,
and (4) the AMA Residency database. In Aim 1, using this innovative dataset, we will examine whether
surgical care (i.e., processes of care, patient outcomes, and utilizations) differ between Black or Hispanic
patients versus White patients when they are treated by the same surgeons using multi-level regression
models. In Aim 2, we will identify individual characteristics of surgeons (e.g., age, gender, whether surgeons
speak languages other than English, and the proportion of patients treating who are racial/ethnic minorities
[“minority-serving surgeons”]) that are associated with racial/ethnic disparities in surgical care. Finally, using
the information on the characteristics of medical schools and residency programs collected by AAMC and
AMA, Aim 3 will determine whether the characteristics of medical schools (e.g., the proportion of racial/ethnic
minority faculty/students, the percentage of international students, location in rural vs. urban areas) and
residency programs (e.g., the proportion of racial and ethnic minority faculty/students/patients, the presence of
cultural competence awareness program, instruction in non-English languages) related to cultural competency
lead to improved surgical care received by racial and ethnic minority patients. The proposed R01 project will
provide a unique opportunity to advance the field by better understanding the mechanisms of disparities
related to surgeon factors, and will identify potentially modifiable attributes of surgeons, medical schools, and
residency programs that contribute to disparities in surgical care. This project will provide a strong evidence
base for developing interventions, such as evidence-based cultural competency programs and Continuing
Medical Education, which can effectively reduce racial and ethnic disparities in surgical care. The research
team consists of multiple NIH-funded researchers with expe...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10191045
- **Project number:** 5R01MD013913-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES
- **Principal Investigator:** Yusuke Tsugawa
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $635,441
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-06-12 → 2025-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10191045

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10191045, The Impact of Surgeon Factors and Education/Training on Disparities in Surgical Care. (5R01MD013913-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10191045. Licensed CC0.

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