The Perry Program is designed to encourage young women to pursue careers in science, particularly orthopaedic surgery and mechanical engineering, which are two fields in which women are traditionally underrepresented. Fifteen high school women from 3-5 Bay Area public schools will participate in four day-long workshops at the UCSF/SFGH Orthopaedic Trauma Institute. These workshops will consist of hands-on research activities focused on orthopaedic surgery and biomechanics. Practicing women surgeons and engineers will work one-on-one with the program participants during these workshops, and participants will attend daily lectures by women leaders in both fields that will address the technical and interpersonal skills necessary for women to have successful careers in science or medicine.
Dr. Jacqueline Perry
The program is named in honor of Dr. Jacqueline Perry, who was the first woman orthopaedic surgeon to graduate from the residency program at UCSF. Dr. Perry’s academic career extends from 1952 to the present, and she received numerous honors for her clinical and scholarly work, including Physician of the Year in 1994 by the State of California and a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2000 by the Gait and Clinical Movement Society. This is the first year for the Perry Program and, if successful, there are plans to make it an annual event and also expand enrollment to include more public schools in the San Francisco community. Faculty organizers for the program are: Dr. Lisa Lattanza (Orthopaedic Surgeon, UCSF Orthopaedic Surgery) and Dr. Jenni Buckley (Mechanical Engineer, UCSF/SFGH Biomechanical Testing Facility).