Linda Suleiman

“I reach out to female medical students to come shadow me in clinic and in my operating room. The job description of hip and knee replacement surgery can be pretty physical, which is why I think women can be discouraged from going into it. But I’m 5’8’’. I’m not a large individual. And I want female medical students to see that if I can do the surgery, they can do the surgery, too.”

“We were able to see the daily environment and how inclusive it was, and I think that’s why we had so many women want to match here that year. When you interviewed at most other orthopaedic programs you had a sense that it was a boy’s club. I can’t tell you the number of programs that asked me Why aren’t you going into pediatrics or OB/GYN?’ Northwestern never asked me that. They asked me and the other women in my class, What do you hope to accomplish in orthopaedic surgery?’ So we had a sense of belonging from the beginning.”

“The data was initially really dishearteningWe always talk about how it seems like there’s not enough women in orthopaedic surgery, but this study really put it into perspective.”

“We had such a rich environment because we had each other’s support. So we started thinking, how many women are actually going into orthopaedics? Why aren’t we going into academic surgery? And when we are in academics, are we actually growing within the field.”

“This was completely unheard of, because women represent such a small population of orthopaedic residents in the country. The fact that 50 percent of our class were women that’s beyond unusual.”