CC Photo Essay 2022 - Highly Commended
Please note some images displayed below depict surgical operations, instruments and graphic content.
Highly commended (2nd): Alexandra Bunting
My journey in orthopaedics
My name is Alexandra Bunting and I am currently completing the complex/revision arthroplasty fellowship at the Royal Adelaide Hospital. I am from Canada and completed my medical school and orthopaedic surgery training at the University of Ottawa in Canada's capital city, Ottawa.
I have created a photo essay of my journey that follows me through my training and fellowship. Most of the photos have a quote from that day that hopefully exemplify the triumphs and struggles of females in orthopaedics. It is disheartening when everyone - patients, nurses, clerks, other physicians and other trainees have an unconscious bias that females;young women, cannot possibly do the job of an orthopaedic surgeon. Thank you for creating this initiative and I hope to bring it to Canada in the next few years once I am back ☺
- Dr. Alexandra Bunting
Highly commended (3rd): Inas Badres
We all belong
We begin our journey from different starting points and privileges. Some people are easily accepted whilst others must fight sweat and tears just to be seen. I was definitely the latter. I loved orthopaedics as a student. I made every effort to immerse myself in the experience and scrub in to as many surgeries as I could because only tall, white boys did orthopaedics and I was definitely not that.
I still loved orthopaedics as an intern and was inspired by a surgeon who said 'you deserve to be here just as much as anyone else', only to be brought down by another surgeon a few years later who said 'maybe you're not meant for orthopaedics'.
(click images to view gallery)
My path has not been easy and has been laced with both heartache and equally, heart-warming moments. I am an unaccredited registrar now. I am proud of my accomplishments. I have published and presented papers and have won the 'best paper' award at the state AOA ASM.
Times are changing and I am excited for the future of orthopaedics; to a culture of acceptance and unity, where everyone feels a sense of belonging no matter what shape, size, colour, gender, religion we come in.
- Dr. Inas Badres
Highly commended (4th): Sikta Samantray
The journey started when I was invited to scrub in with Dr. Amanda Riley as a medical student. She was strong, handled muscle delicately and used instruments with precision. I wanted a piece of this.
One of my most enjoyable terms as a medical student led me to undertake an elective in orthopaedics with Dr. Catherine McDougall. This is where I was lucky to find my mentor, Dr. Yeo. You always read about the right mentor finding you. I realised what that meant when I met Dr. Yeo.
To have a mentor who has kept things real since day one, doesn't consider my gender a drawback, and 100% supports me has made me believe I can pave a path in orthopaedic surgery.
I am currently two years out of postgraduate studies and have loved immersing myself in theatre, clinic and conferences. Seeing women and men being champions for change and inclusivity gives me hope. I don't know what my future holds but I can confidently say an orthopaedic surgeon can come in all shapes, sizes, colours and genders.
Dr. Sikta Samantray