Ann Laurie Wells, PhD
Research Program Manager
University of New Mexico School of Medicine
Albuquerque NM
Member Since: 2023
How has the AAOS helped you throughout your career?
I am a fairly new member. I am hoping to network with other researchers and learn more about research outside of my organization. I have been involved with research for a long time, but I am fairly new to orthopaedic research.
As an Allied member, which AAOS resources do you use most and why?
So far, I have used access to the online journals the most. It is convenient and I can keep up with current research.
What’s the best advice you were ever given? Who was it from?
The first colonel I worked for in my Air Force career told everyone who worked for him that people have many excuses for being late, but the only real reason for being late is that you didn’t start out early enough.
What’s your go-to productivity trick?
I make lists for everything. It sounds so obvious, but if I don’t capture tasks on a list, they tend to get away from me.
What’s one thing you’re currently trying to make a habit?
During COVID, I worked from home. I am trying to make a habit of leaving work at work now that I am back in the hospital. I find I still answer a lot of emails on nights and weekends when I should be recharging!
What hobbies do you enjoy in your spare time?
Astrophotography. New Mexico has fabulously dark skies. I have included a collage of the annular eclipse that passed over Albuquerque October 18, 2023.
I took those photos with my 80mm refractor and a solar filter. I have also included a photo of the Helix nebula that I took with my 80mm refractor just north of the Gila Wilderness and a photo of the Orion nebula that I took with my 200mm Newtonian at Chaco Canyon. The Cosmic Campground in the Gila and Chaco Canyon are designated as International Dark Sky Parks by the International Dark Sky Association.
Tell us a fun fact about yourself that not many people know?
Growing up in rural Alabama I participated in 4-H and did the entomology project. I thought that I would be an entomologist when I grew up but when I took biology in high school, I didn’t like it. (I might have had a bad teacher.) I decided to study physics because it was math-intensive and I liked math. Imagine my surprise to wind up back in the biological sciences after 40 years.