Premier Health program strives to get girls interested in orthopedics

Less than a quarter of all surgeons in the U.S. are women, with the lowest representation in orthopedic surgery.

That’s why Premier Health launched a program to get girls and minorities interested in the field before high school.

According to a report from Medscape, women make up only 10 percent of the orthopedics workforce, but at Premier Health, 23 percent of its orthopedic surgeons are women.

Orthopedics is the medical field that focuses on bones, joints and muscles.

“It’s been an amazing opportunity,” said Dayton Christian School student Eva Keelor. “Just the fact that these doctors are so willing to teach us and to take the time out of their job just to show us what they do.”

Premier Health holds its summer externship program with a focus on getting young women and minorities interested in this typically male-dominated field.

“A lot of them don’t have the opportunities of family and medicine or jobs in the hospital where they can see how these types of things work,” said Dr. Jennifer Jerele, an orthopedic surgeon with Premier Health.

Jerele said stereotypes have kept women away from the field, but as a female orthopedic surgeon herself, she wants to show these students that is no longer true.

“Going into this career with open eyes, knowing I can be a wife, I can be a mom, I can be an excellent surgeon and be very good at all of those things, and it’s possible,” said Jerele. “That’s the message that we need to keep sending out to increase that diversity.”

After the week-long program, students learn they do have an opportunity in orthopedics.

“I feel very blessed and very, very grateful because at this age, being in high school, it’s really hard to answer the question of what you want to do for the rest of your life,” said Addilyn Slinker, a student at Beavercreek High School. “I have no clue. And it’s really great to have these experiences.”

In its first year in 2021, the student externship had just two students. This year, it has 20.

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