Although the number of women entering medical school is increasing, women only make up about 7% of orthopedists in the country.
That’s why the University of Rochester Medical Center hosted a workshop Saturday to encourage more young women to enter the field.
Around 40 local high school girls were at URMC getting a hands on look into the field of orthopedics; practicing suturing, fixing bones and trying their hand at rotator cuff repairs and ligament reconstruction.
Emily Carmody is the UR Orthopedic Surgeon who hosted the event and says the hope is that these workshops will dispel any myths about the field.
"We're using power tools, we're putting big implants in and making big procedures so I think there’s this myth out there that you have to be a big, strong, burly person to do it which really just isn’t the case.”
Carmody says as a Division 1 swimmer in college, she spent a lot of time in orthopedic offices dealing with her shoulder and became interested in the field. This is the 4th year she has hosted the event.
The annual workshop is a partnership with the Perry Initiative, a national organization named for one of the country's first women orthopedic surgeon Jacqueline Perry. That initiative works with local groups to help promote the education of women in science, engineering and orthopedic surgery.