Meet the female surgeons leading the HCMC Orthopedics Department

(FOX 9) – On an average day for orthopedic surgeon Dr. Gudrun Mirick Mueller, preparations are underway to repair a patient’s broken femur.

“I’m a trauma subspecialist. I repair fractures,” says Dr. Mirick. “People come to me more or less at their worst, some worse than others, and as they get better, you get better. That’s one way to get them, and it’s in some way their development.”

Meet the doctors

Dr. Mirick is one of five orthopedic surgeons at Hennepin Healthcare who are women. Many are quick to admit that working with power tools was one of the first reasons they were drawn to medicine.

Acting President Dr. Jackie Geissler grew up on a farm in Wisconsin, Dr. Jessica Downs is the daughter of an electrical contractor, Dr. Nancy Luger’s family owned a lumber company, and Dr. Emily Wagstrom was busy at the time of this interview. . Together, they make up about half of the practicing orthopedic surgeons on staff at Hennepin County Medical Center. Compare that to the latest figures from the Association of American Medical Colleges, which show that only 6.2 percent of all practicing orthopedic surgeons nationwide are women.

“We still have hurdles to overcome, and I think one of the biggest hurdles is the stigma that this is ‘woodwork on humans,’” ​​Dr. Downs says. “Carpentry is traditionally seen as a male discipline, so I think that’s a barrier.”

“There are still some programs in the country that have never trained a woman,” says Dr. Liza Arendt, a professor at the University of Minnesota and vice chair of the department of orthopedic surgery and academic advisor to medical students.

Background

Several surgeons on the Hennepin team were trained at the University of Minnesota under Dr. Arendt and Dr. Ann Van Heest. Dr. Arendt cites images of herself being the only woman in an orthopedic residency program in the early 1980s.

“I was also the first to get pregnant and the first to have a child, which was interesting because we didn’t have surgeon-specific maternity rules or maternity leave,” says Dr. Arendt.

Thanks to their work and decades of advocacy – putting surgical tools in the hands of students as early as high school through programs like the Perry Initiative – for the first time this year, the number of women across the country who enter orthopedics as first-year interns is 20%, the highest level ever reached. At the University of Minnesota, the numbers remain even higher, at 25 percent.

“It’s really great because graduates from this program have gone on to academic positions, which really helps. It’s a snowball effect: the more women you have on faculty, the more women you attract interested in this field,” says Dr. Van Heest, professor, vice chair of education and residency program director in the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at the University of Minnesota.

The snowball effect is evident in Hennepin, where, in addition to surgeons, advanced practice providers (APPs), including nurse practitioners and physician assistants, are predominantly women: 9 of 11 are women.

“For many women, this is an ideal career because we can have really exciting work and a good work-life balance,” says Robin Hoenisch, medical assistant at Hennepin Healthcare.

“We probably have more female fellows than most programs in the country,” says Dr. Dick Kyle.

Why it matters

Former department chairs Dr. Dick Kyle and Dr. Andrew Schmidt are proud of all the surgeons they have hired, both men and women. Dr. Schmidt reminds us why diversity in all aspects of medicine is important. A paper published this year in Canada found that hospitals with more than 35% female surgeons and anesthesiologists on staff had better patient outcomes.

“And in those hospitals, if you were lucky enough to be the patient of one of those women, your situation was even better,” Dr. Schmidt says. “Diversity in general improves outcomes. So whether it’s Black patients doing better with Black doctors or in the field of surgery, gender diversity is really important.”

Whether they are operating on someone following a car accident, sports injury, or a slip and fall resulting in a broken arm, hip, knee, of an ankle or sometimes all of this, these “carpenters of the skeletal system” break stereotypes and thrive in this physically demanding work.

“I remember when I started doing more work, I started doing more weightlifting,” Dr. Downs says. “I told myself, ‘I need to improve my upper body strength to knock these nails off.’ So yes, I like the physical side.”

“You’re on your feet for eight to 10 hours and wearing lead for 80 percent of that time. Ultimately, it’s a challenge,” says Dr. Nancy Luger.

“I think it’s important to have female colleagues and members. I think if you bully everything, you don’t have good skills,” says Dr. Geissler. “Sometimes it’s complicated to force something that’s not appropriate.”

Make no mistake, this is the practice of medicine, and there are challenges to learn from. Outside of the operating room, every member of this orthopedic team we spoke with emphasized that their work-life balance would not be possible without massive support in their personal lives. Being on call, working weekends and holidays, and managing long hours in a Level 1 trauma center is often easier with friends to learn from and lean on.

“It’s pretty cool when we stop and think about what we do every day. It’s pretty exciting.”

For any students interested in exploring a career in orthopedics, the Perry Initiative will take place on October 12th. Click here to learn more.