The North American Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology Fellowship Family Tree

Study objective: To create a family tree to chronicle the proliferation of our specialty through fellowships (formal and informal) within the pediatric and adolescent gynecology practice and among the membership of the North American Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology (NASPAG). This historical project was undertaken as a way to demonstrate NASPAG's rich sense of heritage and community. The tree is meant to be a dynamic project, a living document, changing and expanding as this field of medicine grows, and offers a form of institutional memory for NASPAG.

Design, setting, participants, and interventions: Questionnaires were sent out to all current NASPAG members via e-mail (and the list-serve) and were available at the 2014 NASPAG Annual Clinical and Research Meeting. Data from the questionnaires were recorded within GRAMPS 3.4.8, software used to create a family tree.

Main outcome measures and results: The result of the project was an elegant and intricate tree, containing 379 "family members" including physicians who specialize in pediatric and adolescent gynecology, adolescent medicine, reproductive endocrinology and infertility, and pediatric endocrinology.

Conclusion: The family tree, which shows how one mentor might train multiple trainees and how past trainees later become mentors, highlights the value of physicians who take on supervisory and educational roles and the existence of comprehensive and inspirational training programs.