Burnett School of Medicine Students Get Hands-On Experience During Women in Orthopedics Program
Burnett School of Medicine faculty member Pamela Sherman, M.D., an orthopedic surgeon at Cook Children’s Medical Center, invited pre-health and medical students to participate in the program to make connections with female orthopedic surgeons, engineers and support staff at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth on August 25, 2023.
FORT WORTH – Women should support women, especially in medical professions.
That was the big takeaway from students participating in a Women in Orthopedics program at Texas Christian University on August 25.
“It is easy to be intimidated in a field where I’d be a minority as a woman,” said Lauren Holladay, a third-year medical student at the Anne Burnett Marion School of Medicine at Texas Christian University. “These awesome, encouraging women have gone through so much to achieve what they have in the field of orthopedic surgery. Interactions like this make me more excited to pursue this field.”
Burnett School of Medicine faculty member Pamela Sherman, M.D., an orthopedic surgeon at Cook Children’s Medical Center, invited pre-health students and medical students to participate in the program to make connections with female orthopedic surgeons, engineers and support staff.
“The only way for women to be aware and interested is by exposure, so this allows us to expose the students, support those that are interested, and make them see that it’s actually something you can do as a woman,” Dr. Sherman said.
Burnett medical students listened attentively to the speakers who told their unique stories on how they got into the medical field.
Sarah Mayes, Ph.D., co-founder of Alafair and creator of VersaWrap, told the students that there is not a certain way that a person’s path needs to look to pursue a career in medicine. She emphasized the importance of making connections with those around them: “Sometimes, these connections that you’re making today will mean something to you three years from now [or]10 years from now, and you never know where your path is going to lead you,” she said.
After her presentation, the medical students took her advice and got acquainted with the female engineers and surgeons in the room. Then, they transitioned into hands-on learning experiences.
Throughout the room, stations were set up with different activities. There was a suturing station, orthopedic surgery tools station and a 3D spinal printer.
Erica Olfson, MS1, who is intrigued by orthopedics, said her favorite station was suturing. “I had never done that before so that was really exciting, and it was great to have a resident walk me through that process.”