AAOS Committee(s) or Council(s) you currently volunteer with:
Resident Assembly Executive Committee, Resident Assembly Education Committee Chair
Why did you choose orthopaedics as your specialty?
My first memory of orthopaedics was Saturday morning rounds as a 10-year-old with the highlights being chocolate milk and donuts. Joining my father on his weekend rounds showed me at an early age how orthopaedics has the ability to impact people's function and daily lives in a way they truly understand. While I flirted with other specialties in medical school, the core of orthopaedics of improving people's movement and function in their daily life stuck with me and led me to pursue orthopaedic training.
Why do you volunteer with AAOS?
Volunteering with AAOS allows me to give back to the great orthopaedic community and provides me with the opportunity to pursue and have a positive impact on the areas of orthopaedics about which I am passionate. For me currently, education of current residents and medical students, as well as enticing underrepresented groups to pursue orthopaedics are my interests. My work with the Resident Assembly Education Committee has provided me the opportunity to collaborate with other amazing residents and fellows across the country to try to have a broader impact in these areas.
What advice would you give an AAOS member who is considering applying for an open volunteer position?
To apply! Unless you take that first step of submitting your application you will never know what opportunities you could have, nor what the downstream impacts of those opportunities could be.