The Other W of the WOA

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The Other “W” of the WOA

As many of you may know, this year’s incoming First Vice-President of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons is Dr. Kristy Weber. I found myself surprisingly emotional and proud listening to her speech at the annual Academy meeting in New Orleans a few weeks ago, and laughed as she referenced the fact that she was “the first person in heels” to address the crowd in the First VP role. As such, she is slated to be the first female President of the AAOS in 2019.

Orthopaedics lags behind essentially all medical specialties in its gender parity. As of the last AAOS census, only 6% of AAOS fellows are women, and recent AAMC data shows that only 14.8% of orthopaedic residents in the US are female. However, real progress is being made at every level to attract and keep women in orthopaedics. The Western Orthopaedic Association has a strong history of women in leadership roles, with 3 previous female Presidents (Drs. Linda Rasmussen, Ellen Raney, Valerae Lewis) and a continuously diverse Board of Directors, and maintains a strong commitment to supporting women at all levels of training (for example, the very first recipient of the Western Orthopaedic Federation research grant was a woman from the University of New Mexico).

Just another great reason to be a part of the WOA!

Meghan Imrie, MD
[email protected]

 

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