The Boneyard Project, the parent of this website, accomplishes something never done before. It celebrates ALL of the women of orthopaedic surgery, both past and present. Those pioneering women in the profession who are now deceased, are honored on the Home page and via video Tribute Circles.
Present day female orthopaedic surgeons are celebrated through their own storytelling. All have voluntarily agreed to an interview for this project and have provided a true story from their orthopaedic training or careers. They were encouraged to choose a story of significance, be it positive, legendary, inspirational, career altering, negative, or otherwise. The decade of occurrence is recorded for historical reference.
The accounts given have been made anonymous with no names, training programs, practices or geographic locations used anywhere in the text. The intent is to share hard-earned wisdom and truths learned during orthopaedic life and to inspire others as they begin to set career trajectories and goals.
The accounts also serve to document orthopaedic culture over decades, to validate that some experiences are not unique to an individual, and to demonstrate how resilience, grit, and making difficult decisions can pay off in the long run.
The stories illustrate the positive impact mentoring and sponsorship can have on individual careers and how those effects can last for decades. Conversely, some of the accounts describe training or working under negative conditions and the aftereffects.
The storytellers represent surgeons of diverse age groups, ethnicities, races, sexual orientations, subspecialty interests and geographic locations. To date, surgeons on SIX continents have contributed accounts!
The newly added Legacies section demonstrates how parents inspired their children to join the profession. The ultimate accomplishment!
This project was conceived of and created by Debra A. Zillmer, MD, who also serves as editor. She is a retired orthopaedic sports medicine specialist and past president of the Ruth Jackson Orthopaedic Society.
