Written by: Alexander R. Vaccaro, MD, PhD, MBA
Chairman of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery
Jefferson Medical College
Rothman Orthopaedics President
June 6, 1960, marked the date when the Board of Trustees of Jefferson Medical College approved admitting women into the college. Only 15 months later (September 1961), 9 women enrolled in medical school, and 8 of them graduated in 1965. The first woman admitted to Jefferson, and the first to receive her medical school diploma, was Nancy Szwec, later Nancy Szwec Czarnecki. Although this article will provide some insight into several notable women who were present during my tenure as a resident, fellow, attending physician, and Chairman of the department from 2014 to the present, it is not comprehensive and does not reflect all of the women who have attended Jefferson Medical College and/or been affiliated with Rothman Orthopaedics and contributed significantly to the world’s care of orthopaedic patients.
Jefferson established its Department of Orthopaedic Surgery in 1904, and thus was among the first academic departments of orthopaedic surgery. The Chairs who have led our Department since its inception are: Oscar Huntington Allis, H. Augustus Wilson, James T. Rugh, James R. Martin, Anthony F. DePalma, John J. Gartland, Richard H. Rothman, and Todd J. Albert up until 2014. Their contributions have shaped both Jefferson and American orthopaedics. DePalma established Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research. Gartland wrote a textbook used by multiple generations of residents. As mentioned earlier, Dr. Rothman established a department that grew far beyond its original boundaries, and I am honored to be holding his chairmanship today.
Prior to most of this history, there were no women who had completed Jefferson’s Orthopaedic Residency Program. This was clearly not because of their abilities. They simply had no opportunity to do so. And even after women were admitted to Jefferson Medical College, it took considerable time for significant numbers to enter orthopaedic surgery.
In 1980, Barbara Grugan Frieman, MD, earned her medical degree from Jefferson Medical College fifteen years after the first women graduating from Jefferson received their diplomas. She has dedicated her career to shoulder/elbow surgery and orthopedic trauma, and she has spent decades on the faculty of both Jefferson/Rothman. Generations of Jefferson residents have learned shoulder surgery from her. The fact that this has become commonplace is testament to the changes that have occurred at Jefferson over time. However, these changes did not occur immediately or without great effort.
Stephanie Sweet, MD, is a colleague of Dr. Frieman. Dr. Sweet is a graduate of Harvard University (cum laude). She trained in orthopaedics at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and completed a hand/upper extremity fellowship at the Philadelphia Hand & Shoulder Center, which is very closely associated with Jefferson Medical College. For many years, she has practiced hand surgery in this region, served on various medical staff committees at Jefferson, and trained hand surgeons who now train future surgeons. She has remained involved with the university community as an educator, a different but equally important way of being committed.
During my time as a resident at Jefferson Medical College, women practicing in the field of orthopaedic surgery were still relatively rare and therefore could not be taken for granted in terms of their presence in the program. My experience of that change began with Pamela A. Reinhardt, MD. Dr. Reinhardt entered the Jefferson Orthopaedic Residency in 1985 and graduated in 1989. When I started my residency, she was my chief resident. The significance of that detail cannot be overstated. One of the first people responsible for teaching me how to act as an orthopaedic resident, how to think critically about patient problems, and how to assume responsibility for a service was a woman. While women still represented a small percentage of practicing orthopedic surgeons during my time as a resident at Jefferson Medical College, in the context of our daily lives as a surgical program, she was simply the chief.
Jennifer Vanderbeck, MD, completed the residency in 2006. Elizabeth Morrison, MD, and Mara Karamitopoulos, MD, graduated in 2010. Dr. Karamitopoulos earned her medical degree at Jefferson Medical College in 2005. After completing her residency at Jefferson Medical College, she completed Pediatric Orthopedic Fellowship Training at Alfred I. DuPont Hospital for Children. Today she is active in leadership roles in pediatric orthopaedics and residency education at NYU. The pattern observed here is noteworthy: a woman who trained in an environment where women represented only a small fraction of practitioners would go on to teach future generations of physicians.
As we approach the midpoint of the previous decade (approximately 10 years ago), we saw the greatest number of women entering the program as part of the class of 2016. Danielle Ponzio, MD (molecular biology major at Princeton University; varsity lightweight rower) earned her medical degree at Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Jefferson Medical College. She completed her residency here and then completed adult reconstruction fellowship training at Hospital for Special Surgery. She returned to Rothman and Jefferson to practice complex primary and revision hip/knee replacements and to serve as a member of the faculty at Jefferson Medical College.
Christina Gutowski, MD, MPH (class of 2016), completed fellowship training in Musculoskeletal Oncology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Today she practices orthopaedic oncology at Cooper University Health Care and MD Anderson Cancer Center at Cooper as a member of the Cooper Medical School faculty.
Julie Shaner, MD (class of 2017) graduated from Sidney Kimmel Medical College in 2012 and completed fellowship training in adult reconstruction at Brigham & Women’s Hospital. Today she practices as a member of the faculty at the University of Florida.
Meghan Bishop, MD (also class of 2017) completed her residency at Jefferson and then completed fellowship training in Sports Medicine/Shoulder Surgery at Hospital for Special Surgery. She returned to Rothman and Jefferson to build a career combining clinical sports medicine, team coverage, scholarship, and leadership. Among other things, she cares for collegiate/professional athletes; provides leadership in national sports medicine organizations; writes articles; and conducts research on injury patterns in female athletes.
Both Dr. Bishop and Dr. Ponzio co-founded INSPIRE – Women in Orthopaedics Summit. That work represents an important aspect of academic medicine that often goes unnoticed: mentoring; creating organizational frameworks; increasing awareness and access to a field for individuals coming up behind you. Much of that work happens outside the OR and outside traditional productivity metrics; however, it can have long-lasting effects on the entire specialty.
Since 2017 the number of women in Orthopaedics have increased dramatically. Examples include Talia Chapman, MD (hand surgery fellowship at Hospital for Special Surgery); Kristen Sandowski, MD (hand surgery fellowship at NYU); Dr. Chapman now works as an orthopaedic surgeon at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Class of 2021 includes: Priscilla Cavanaugh (orthopaedic hand/surgery fellowship training at Indiana Hand & Shoulder Center); Brianna Fram (orthopaedic trauma fellowship training at Carolinas Med Center); Jessica Phillips (Colorado Joint Replacement fellowship training); Dr. Fram subsequently became a faculty member in ortho-trauma at UChicago Medicine. Class of 2022 includes: Cassandra Sanko (shoulder & elbow fellowship training at Jefferson/Rothman); Lili Schindelar (hand surgery fellowship training at Tufts); Alexis Williams (shoulder & elbow fellowship training at Mt Sinai); Madeline Tadley (graduated in 2023 – hand fellowship training at Hospital for Special Surgery); Ariana Reyes (graduate year 2025 – underwent advanced training in limb lengthening/reconstruction (Rubin Inst) and ortho-trauma (Emory)); Emily Berthiaume (plans to start Vanderbilt Spine Fellowship Training in 2027); and Lilah Fones (went to Washington University in St Louis for hand/microsurgical fellowship).
Community-based practice accounts for much of the delivery system for orthopaedic care throughout America. Therefore a department should consider measuring its influence not only through the chairs and professors it develops but also through the surgeons who deliver excellent care to communities around them.
While there are many aspects to being a department of orthopaedic surgery, training residents is just one. Many physicians also come to Jefferson for fellowship training. When they go, some of that which we call “clinical culture” goes with them.
Dr. Antonia F. Chen is perhaps the best example. Dr. Chen’s academic background includes attending Yale, earning a medical degree from Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, completing an orthopaedic residency at the University of Pittsburgh, receiving an MBA from Rutgers, and then completing two fellowships in Hip & Knee Arthroplasty at the Rothman Institute. After leaving the Rothman Institute, Dr. Chen returned to Boston where she became the Chief of Arthroplasty and Joint Reconstruction and Director of Research for Arthroplasty Services at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and maintained a faculty appointment at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Chen has been recognized nationally for her contributions to mentoring other physicians; in 2024 she accepted a position as Professor and Chair of Orthopaedic Surgery at UT Southwestern Medical Center.
Dr. Antonia Chen is among the smaller number of women who have become Chairs of Departments of Orthopaedic Surgery in the US. While a fellowship year may be only a small portion of a successful career like hers, the time spent within the walls of Jefferson’s hospitals is something worth acknowledging as both a source of gratitude and not taking as credit.
Dr. Ashley Bassett, MD graduated at the top of her class at Robert Wood Johnson, completed a combined orthopaedic residency at Harvard (the Combined Orthopaedic Residency Program), and came to the Rothman Institute for Fellowship Training in Sports Medicine. Dr. Bassett gained significant clinical experience during her year at Jefferson while providing sports medicine coverage to several professional and collegiate athletic teams based out of Philadelphia. Today, Dr. Bassett runs the Women’s Sports Medicine Center at the Orthopedic Institute of New Jersey, provides medical coverage for USA Gymnastics as a team physician and co-hosts The Sports Doctors’ Podcast. Dr. Bassett’s career demonstrates how fellowship training can provide opportunities for a surgeon to build new programs for populations that historically were studied less extensively in sports medicine.
There are two additional women whose contributions should be recognized in this account. Both of these individuals did not complete their fellowship training at Jefferson, however today they teach others at Jefferson. Dr. Sommer Hammoud, MD earned her medical degree from Johns Hopkins University, completed an internship in orthopaedics at the Hospital for Special Surgery, and completed a sports medicine fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Hammoud is currently an Associate Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, has provided team physician services for Drexel University Athletics, has specific interests in sports-related injuries in female athletes and has served in leadership positions with the Perry Initiative. The Perry Initiative is an organization that introduces young girls in high school and college to orthopaedic surgery and engineering via hands-on educational activities. As such, Dr. Hammoud’s participation with this organization allows our faculty to connect with national initiatives designed to introduce more women to orthopaedic surgery.
Dr. Rachel Shakked, MD trained at NYU’s Hospital for Joint Diseases and completed her fellowship training at the Hospital for Special Surgery. Dr. Shakked is currently an assistant professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and provides foot and ankle surgery services at the Rothman Institute.
Along with Danielle Ponzio, Meghan Bishop, and others, these faculty members now allow women rotating through our department to regularly see women practicing orthopaedic surgery throughout various sub-specialties including sports medicine, adult reconstruction/arthroplasty, pediatrics etc., as opposed to having never seen women practice in those areas.
Orthopaedic surgery remains one of the least gender-diverse surgical specialties. According to recent data reported in publications, women represent approximately 20% of orthopaedic surgery residents and approximately 7% of practicing orthopaedic surgeons. Therefore, as a department we deliberately seek to increase exposure, mentorship, and opportunities for professional growth among our residents, fellows, faculty, and staff. We actively participate in exposing high school and college students to orthopaedic surgery via the Perry Initiative and collaborate with the Ruth Jackson Orthopaedic Society to provide mentorship to medical and college students. Twice annually, the DePalma Orthopaedic Society hosts “Women in Orthopaedics” events; similarly, we hold quarterly gatherings for women residents/fellows/faculty.
These efforts will have tangible effects beyond symbolism alone; increasing the diversity of our profession will strengthen it by increasing the variety of experiences/perspectives brought into patient care, education, research and leadership roles.
As I look back over the years since I began my residency at Jefferson Medical College in 1988 and reflect upon what has changed regarding representation of women within our department’s residency classes, I am pleased to say that the demographics of our current class differ significantly from when I first started training here.
Lauren O’Mara MD is a senior resident in our program; Margaret Danzinger MD PhD and Stephanie Eble MD are in the middle of their training; Alexandra Dionne MD, Alexandra Hohmann MD and Alexa Tomlak MD are juniors in class; Jessica Koshinski MD is in her first year.
It has now been sixty-five years since nine women entered Jefferson Medical College after the Board of Trustees voted to admit women to our school; eight of those nine women graduated from Jefferson in 1965. Sixty-five years later women comprise fifty percent of one Jefferson Orthopaedic Surgery Residency Class. These women are not here to make a point or prove anything; they are here because they earned their way into our program and because a door that was closed for far too long is now expected to remain open for generations to follow.
