Although women comprise approximately fifty percent of all medical school classes, regrettably only 13% of orthopedic residents and 4% of AAOS fellows are women. (Rohde) So, too, while one third of the country’s population is made up of LatinX, African Americans, and Native Americans, only 7% of orthopedic surgeons hail from these communities. (Jimenez) These troubling statistics led former ASES President Dr. Bill Levine to create the ASES Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Committee.  Appointed as inaugural co-chairs, Drs. Sara Edwards and Oke Anakwenze, led the charge to increase diversity by ensuring women and minority representation in all ASES sponsored activities. In addition, the committee’s charge included increasing outreach of shoulder and elbow surgery to medical schools and residency programs.

The DEI committee has worked to enlist a diverse group of leaders for all online, in person, and public-facing activities so that women and minority residents and medical students can identify role models and mentors who look like them.  ASES became the first orthopedic subspecialty organization to partner with Nth Dimension to begin an ASES/Nth Dimension Scholar program. Nth Dimension identifies underrepresented medical students from around the country to participate in a summer externship and research project with our ASES members between the 1st and 2nd year of medical school.  The goal of this program is to provide these students with research and mentorship opportunities exposing them to shoulder and elbow surgeons. Thank you to our members (Drs. Ronald Navarro, Ivan Garcia, Andrew Jawa and Marc Kowalsky) who have volunteered to serve as hosts for these future orthopedic shoulder and elbow surgeons (hopefully!). 

Additionally, Dr. Bill Mallon, editor-in-chief of JSES Family of Journals, started the ASES Young Scholars program, in honor of some of the young ASES members whom we have lost in the recent past.  This program provides funding for a female or URM ASES member to attend a shoulder/elbow meeting of their choice. Our annual meeting in Atlanta will also mark the inaugural ASES Scholars program, where we will be hosting local women and URM medical students to attend the meeting and provide mentorship opportunities.  We plan to continue this program for all future Annual meetings.  These Scholars will have a special breakfast session with our DEI committee members who will outline career strategies for the students.  After our morning session, the scholars will enjoy lunch with our Codman Speaker, Dr Robert Satcher, Orthopaedic Oncologist and NASA astronaut! 

ASES has also continued to cosponsor the Perry Initiative which exposes female high-school students to the field of Orthopaedics.  We have enjoyed tremendous financial support from our industry partners and look forward to building upon these tremendous programs in the future.

As stated by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, “You cannot plant an acorn in the morning, and expect that afternoon to sit in the shade of an oak.”  On behalf of the ASES members, Presidential line, and Executive Committee, I would like to thank all of you who are committed to increasing diversity as we are fully committed to continuing these initiatives to make ASES a stronger, more inclusive organization for our patients.