Women in Orthopaedics Develops Mentorship Structures
5^th Annual Luncheon

Alex Brooks-Hill, BPHE, M.D., DipSportMed, FRCSC
Whistler and Squamish, BC

Marcia Clark, BSC, MSC, M.D., FRCSC
Edmonton, AB

The fifth annual Women in Orthopaedics luncheon was held on June 6, 2008 during the COA Annual meeting in Québec City.

Dr. Peter O'Brien, COA President Elect, welcomed male and female attendees from both the AOA and COA.  Dr. O'Brien discussed opportunities to facilitate the formalization of the structure of Women in Orthopaedics within the COA.  Dr. Mary O'Connor from the Ruth Jackson Orthopaedic Society shared experiences from similar formalization within the Ruth Jackson Orthopaedic Society.

Women in Orthopaedics (WIO) began in early 2003 with the intention of bringing together female orthopaedic surgeons and residents within Canada. The group revised their mission statement in 2007 to read:

"To create a supportive network for excellence in the field of orthopaedic surgery in Canada for surgeons, residents and students."

This year's guest speaker was Dr. Sharon Strauss, a geriatrician and general internist at the University of Calgary and an Associate Professor at both the University of Calgary and the University of Toronto. She completed graduate training in Clinical Epidemiology at the University of Toronto and a research fellowship at the Centre for Evidence-based Medicine at the University of Oxford.  Her research interests include evaluating the precision and accuracy of diagnostic tests, mentorship, and developing and evaluating methods of achieving knowledge translation in order to enhance clinical care.  Her talk about academic mentorship and case examples generated discussion about possible mentorship structures within Women in Orthopaedics. 

• FORMAL MENTORSHIP DATABASE
  It was determined that Women in Orthopaedics will continue to develop a formalized mentorship database.  This database will be kept confidential and Cynthia Vezina will facilitate connections between mentors and mentees.  If you are interested in being either a mentor or a mentee, please contact Cynthia Vezina at the COA head office ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it / 514 874-9003 x 3).
• FORUM FOR INFORMAL MENTORSHIP
  The attendees at the luncheon felt that it was important to have a forum for informal mentorship.  Therefore, the WIO meeting in Whistler in 2009 will involve a shorter formal programme and more time for social networking.

Dr. Cummings from the AOA extended an invitation to attend a women's sport medicine orthopaedic conference in January 2009.  More information about this conference can be obtained by e-mailing Dr. Nancy Cummings at: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Once again, thank you to Cynthia Vezina for organizing the meeting and thank you to DePuy Canada for their continual support of Women in Orthopaedics.

Next year's event will be held in July 2009 during the COA in Whistler, BC.  Stay tuned for details!

Sponsorship Acknowledgement: This year's luncheon was exclusively sponsored by DePuy Canada. WIO would like to thank them for their continued support of this initiative. A special thank you to Ms. Anthousa Borsato, Professional Education Leader, for attending the luncheon and for her support.