If you missed the individual orthopodess profiles on the LIONZ Facebook page, here's the 2023 + 2024 LIONZ Ladypods all in one post...
Margy Pohl: Don’t let the entire staircase overwhelm you, just focus on that first step.
Born in Lower Hutt I had an underwhelmingly average but happy kiwi childhood, lacking only in a family dog. Leaving high school I applied to med school on the advice of teachers, but had the insight to realise I lacked maturity or motivation, and instead spent a fulfilling and very memorable gap year in Canada teaching skiing, before heading to Otago.
Through my med school and house surgeon years orthopaedics had instant appeal as a tangible 'fix- it' specialty, and my interest was enhanced further by several personal orthopaedic (mostly- successful) procedures. I’m still not quite sure how I successfully made it on to and through training, and particularly Part 2s, but one step at a time and I was out the other side. Looking back now at those training years it really is quite a whirlwind time. It’s said the price of anything is the amount of life you’re willing to exchange for it. If so, training was costly and there were certainly times I questioned the sacrifice and commitment But it’s also incredibly rewarding and worth the cost.
I now enjoy a fairly relaxed existence living on the coast in Northland with my partner and 2 teenage boys who periodically live at home. We’ve been here now for 17 years.
I work 1 day a week in private, 3 in public (where I’m Clinical Director). The remaining day was supposed to be me-time, but instead usually becomes an overwhelming mix of chaos. It’s an ongoing challenge keeping work in perspective -but I’m getting better at it.
When not at work, I seem to spend most of my time sorting logistics and laundry ... but enjoy an equal balance of chilling on the couch with a wine and being active. Lately my leave is dominated with watching my boys compete/volunteering at ski races... but again it’s worth it.
I do now have a dog.
George Chan
When I told my grandma I wanted to be a doctor she said: “Don’t become a doctor, just marry one!” Grandma was the eldest daughter of the only surgeon in my hometown back in Taiwan in the 1940s, having had suitors galore…she married a truck driver. She was a little bit rebellious. I went to med school to become a GP and after seeing my first knee replacement I was instantly converted. When I told Grandma I now wanted to be an orthopod she said: “don’t become an orthopod, just marry one!”
I tried to talk myself out of ortho, thinking it was not for girls and definitely not great for family life. So I lined up O+G and paeds diplomas and TI electives. But the pull was too great and I ended up calling 4 of the 7 female orthopods around NZ at the time and also emailed Margy while she was on fellowship. Summary of the advice I got was: “if you want to do it, you can”.
Ortho was the only thing that made sense to me. Fix broken stuff, make people walk. On my ortho run as a first year HS I had two female ortho regs – what a dream – and with plenty of supportive male mentors from all over NZ, I knew for sure that ortho was totally ME.
After a year away (some time in Africa and not marrying an orthopod) I started my ortho reg journey and after 5 DHBs, 4 women trainee contemporaries, 3 kids and 2 countries I landed back in Tauranga where I now have an amazing boss life doing what I love. I am so inspired by the women coming through ortho now and never imagined having so many of us around!
I have two fav quotes. First one is: “Whatever you do today, do it with the confidence of a 4 year old in a Batman t-shirt”. Second one is this: “You must look behind you or you may not remember the mountains. The ones you thought you’d die on. The ones you scaled and survived. Then you’ll look at the mountain ahead of you and realise you’ve done it before, and you’ll do it again. You must look behind you sometimes, just to see how much you are”. Be a little bit rebellious.
Nikki Hooper
Orthopaedics was always in my blood. As the daughter of an orthopaedic surgeon I had a unique perspective on orthopaedics from a young age. My Dad bought his model skeleton into primary school and sung ‘dem bones’ to my class – I guess this was my introduction to surgical anatomy…
I also had early exposure to the other side of orthopaedics after I had the (mis)fortune of needing multiple ACL reconstructions, starting as a teenager. This was an eye opening experience for me and has shaped a lot of my interactions with patients since.
Throughout medical school I felt the continual pull of orthopaedics, but was worried about my ability to balance my love of bones with a family, so I told myself I would take time to gain some life experiences and reassess my priorities. This meant half way through PGY2 I resigned, moved to London and bought a van with a friend before spending the next 3-4 months driving around Europe. 21 Countries and more than a few great yarns later, I returned home (broke) where I rediscovered my love of ortho.
Over the next several years I completed training while also ticking off some life goals – we bought a house, got married, adopted a cat, moved around the country, had a couple of kids, went to Vancouver on fellowship, adopted a dog, renovated our house and had 2 more kids! (4 total) Back in my hometown of Christchurch life is busy but I get immense satisfaction out of my work and my family and wouldn’t have it any other way. I am so excited to see the future of orthopaedics with the phenomenal Wāhine coming through – I can’t wait to see where you will all take us!
Charlotte Allen: Be yourself; everyone else is already taken -Oscar Wilde
I absolutely love my job. I feel so lucky to have found the thing that drives me.
I stumbled into med school because I had no real idea what I wanted to do at 18. In 4th year I discovered my love of orthopaedics working on the Monday team at Middlemore Hospital and I have never looked back.
Orthopaedics drew me in because of the people. The humour, drive and comradery. I also love the practical nature of it and the ability to make people better. Thinking in 3D, solving problems and putting things together. Like anything worthwhile, there have been moments when it was an uphill battle and there will be more to come. Like many of you, I am plagued by imposter syndrome and sorry - I don’t think it gets any better... but it has all been worth it!
Throughout training I moved all around the country, living in Invercargill, Christchurch, Tauranga, Whangarei and Auckland and I think being able to work all around the country is a huge strength of our training program. I then spent two years in Vancouver for fellowship and am now back at Middlemore specialising in knees plus foot and ankle. Along the way I have had twin girls and a little boy.
In 2023 I started as the female representative on the NZOA Training Committee and am looking forward to meeting many more of you through this!
Quotes? There are so many quotes that resonate with me but in addition to the Oscar Wilde one at the start, this is another of my favourites: “Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." -Ralph Waldo Emerson
Karen Smith:
It has been 40 years since I was accepted for orthopaedic training (One of the first women trained in NZ) and 33 since I became an SMO. Now faced, over the next few years with retirement, it is interesting to reflect on my time in our unique profession. I have had a great career; I can’t say I loved every minute of it, for as we all know, it’s demanding in time, energy and self – but mostly -it’s been the best.
Nothing in work, can beat that feeling of having made/performed a good diagnosis/surgery and achieved the outcome that you and the patient wanted. Where else do we get to have such fun (operating), feel good about it (mostly) and be thanked (hopefully) for doing so? And almost importantly - to work with such amazing people; our colleagues and trainees.
I would do it all over again but I would do it differently. For my only regret is that I, for decades, let the imposter syndrome (then not recognised as such) compromise my professional and (because inevitably you bring all that crap home) my private life. There was the constant feeling of inadequacy, that nagging insecurity about ability and the feeling that I could have done better. The best advice for all those women coming after me is FIGHT THE IMPOSTER – never feel you are not good enough!!!
I was lucky to meet a wonderful man with whom to share life and to have 2 great children, who now lead their own lives. I/we have walked some fantastic tramps and experience fascinating places and hopefully will continue to do so.
It is hard to conceive leaving such a vocation as orthopaedics or in my specific case hand surgery, but few people, on their deathbed, wished they had worked harder, so the lesson is there…
I have recently given up private practice (an excellent decision) and now work part time in public for 9 months of the year. (Italy in May and June last year was glorious!) Life is for living and while I can still enjoy and be good at my job, I will do so for a little while longer – and then I will move on.
Importantly – I need to correct a misconception; I had always thought, as I was the first to enter/exit the training scheme, that I was the first orthopaedic women in NZ/Australia, but I definitely am not; that honour belongs to Marion Aroha Radcliffe-Taylor who graduated from Dunedin in 1922 and passed the FRCS in Edinburgh around 1930.
I don’t really have a favourite quote, but I do have a favourite piece of music:
The Lark Ascending by Vaughn Williams.
Jillian Lee: Be The Change You Want To See
I love my job (on a good day!) I think there’s no other job where we have the opportunity to really change a person’s quality of life, and (for the most part) have fun while doing so. When I was a medical student I always wanted to do medicine because I thought all surgeons were dicks!
It wasn’t until I started working as a 1st year that I realised that surgeons can really make a huge difference in people’s lives and they also seemed to be the doctors who had the most fun at work. I thought to myself, I want in on that! I am lucky to work in a department with supportive colleagues; this became especially evident (and was much appreciated) when my son was born 10 weeks premature. A lot of my colleagues picked up the slack without asking or complaining.
I also have an amazing support network at home in the form of my ever patient and superman-esque husband and the light of my life, my now 3 year old, Harry.
Be Brave, and believe in yourself. I am so grateful to all the surgeons who have gone before us, paving the way, doing the hard yards, and making it just that little bit easier for us to follow in their footsteps. And I hope that our generation can do the same for future generations.
Mary Nugent:
Unlike some, I wasn’t born knowing that I would be an orthopaedic surgeon - it was more of an evolution. Or alternatively, to quote a former housemate, I had ‘a few shots in the dark before hitting the target’. Choose whichever interpretation you prefer.
I grew up in Ireland and initially studied nutrition & dietetics in Dublin, which was lots of fun and led to lifelong friendships, but not too many job opportunities in Ireland immediately after graduation. Undeterred, I moved to England and worked as a dietitian there for a few years but decided to have a career change in my mid-twenties and moved back to Ireland to study medicine in Galway.
I started medical school with an open mind but by graduation knew I wanted to be a surgeon. At the time, the route to surgery was intern year followed by 2 years basic surgical training (4 x six-month SHO posts), then typically 2-3 years in ‘no man’s land’ (research/teaching/junior registrar posts) before specialty training. My 4th SHO job (PGY3) was ortho and that’s when I knew I’d found my niche.
I liked the patient mix and the practical nature of the work which just made sense to me.
Most of all I liked doing things that could improve someone’s quality of life.
Training years were tough in some respects (not unique to me) but it was worth it.
I came to NZ in 2018 to a fellowship in Christchurch followed by a year in Adelaide and returned to NZ in July 2020 to take up my current post in Rotorua ‘for 12 months’ which has become ‘for the foreseeable future’. I still love travelling to new places and doing silly things with friends, but I bought a house with a giant messy garden last year, so I now seem to be finally growing up and settling down. That garden however is still a steep learning curve!
Emma Lacey: Be the best version of yourself every day and don’t let anyone put out your light
It all started from my love of fixing things. Growing up I’d rather be in the workshop hammering nails into wood, using drills or fixing things than out shopping! Then it was either veterinary or medicine. For those of you who know me I like talking to people (!) and so into medicine it was!
When I had 6 weeks ortho placement as a medical student I didn’t seem to fit the normal rugby boy mould but was intrigued as here was an area where I could fix things too. It was during my SHO job in ED 'fixing things' that my passion was born. I would stick to minors and resus and loved the satisfaction of achieving a tangible result and quickly my passion for orthopaedics followed after that.
A ‘quick’ year sailing around the world followed - which gave me the best of leadership experiences, how to manage a team, as well as my confirming how resilient I could be. As a registrar, I have definitely had the best of the best, and (seldom) the worst of mentors and role models and many have shaped the surgeon I have become. I have a passion for teaching and mentoring, a love of the fiddliest of bones (small enough to swallow, as one of my dear arthroplasty colleagues loves to remind me) and going above and beyond for my patients - without whom I would have no purpose.
It is an honour to wake up and do what you love every day – yes not EVERY day is like that, but most days are and I'm grateful to my colleagues that still inspire me to be the best surgeon I can. This achievement is also thanks to the unsung hero - my husband Simon and our two children Sophia and Lawrence. Winston our labrador, 2 highland cows Aggie and Rosie and many chickens complete our household & we feel blessed to have emigrated 7.5 years ago and truly believe we have found our home.
Behind every great ladypod is a tribe of supporters, the unsung heroes who help to make it possible. It may be difficult to balance it all - but we mostly get it right!
