July 2, 2024

Spotlight on women advancing musculoskeletal health

(SACRAMENTO)

The UC Davis Department of Orthopaedic Surgery is pleased to highlight the remarkable contributions of women in advancing musculoskeletal health and how our department is promoting diversity and inclusion within our team.

In the past five years, we have tripled the number of women in leadership and faculty positions within our department. Under the leadership of our Pediatrics Chief of Service Holly Leshikar, M.D., our team has been making remarkable progress. Under her leadership, we have integrated orthopaedic care with Shriners Children’s Northern California. She has also established a complex tertiary-quaternary pediatric referral practice.

Amanda Whitaker, M.D., another pediatric surgeon, serves as our department chief value officer, overseeing our quality improvement initiatives and Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) in partnership with UC Davis Health. She was recently awarded a grant by POSNA QSVI grant for her study in reducing opioid exposure and the number of opioids prescribed to children, emphasizing our dedication to value-driven, leading-edge care. Her clinical expertise in neuromuscular conditions is also heavily sought after.

Last year, Megan Terle, M.D., joined the department after completing dual training in pediatric and orthopaedic trauma. With a specific department vision to build programmatic care for age transitional fractures and limb deformities in adolescents and young adults, she has enabled us to create one of the country’s first positions of its kind. She has played an essential role in leading trauma care for patients across the lifespan by providing trauma care for patients of all ages at both UC Davis Medical Center and Shriners Children’s Northern California.

Michelle James, M.D., an internationally recognized pediatric hand surgeon and our vice chair for education, is also serving as our interim hand chief. She has been leading our efforts in expanding our hand services. Her team is currently working on developing an integrated service line in partnership with the plastic surgery. The objective is to establish a comprehensive program that enables us to provide the gamut of care from acute level 1 injury to elective hand and upper extremity procedures. A particular area we plan to bring online is Wide Awake Local Anesthesia No Tourniquet (WALANT) procedures which more efficiently deliver smaller procedural care, improving access to our in-demand services while also expediting recovery.

Micah Sinclair, M.D., has brought her expertise in pediatric hand surgery to help bolster our comprehensive care for upper extremity congenital differences and injuries in the pediatric and adolescent populations. She was recently selected for the Board of Directors at Speak Up Ortho and was elected to the California Orthopaedic Association Board of Directors as the Sacramento Valley District representative. She is also part of the second research project, which is ongoing, in partnership with the orthopaedics department at the University of Virginia, evaluating the potential for bias in hand surgery education through the resident and fellow recommended videos on Hand-e. Her focus on addressing health care disparities and improving patient outcomes underscores our team’s commitment to holistic patient care. Dr. Sinclair is also a member of the AOA, the orthopaedic honor society.

Gillian Soles, M.D., a nationally recognized trauma and pelvic reconstruction surgeon serves as our residency program director. She has played a pivotal role in enhancing our residency program. Our U.S. News and World Report/Doximity clinical reputation score is higher than ever, and our residency ranks in the top 15% nationally. In the past year, she was inducted into AOA, reflecting her significant national leadership reputation. She also produced seven new publications in peer-reviewed journals from collaborative work.

Ellen Fitzpatrick, M.D., a highly experienced trauma surgeon, has continued as Davis 14 Medical Director, contributing to initiatives to improve patient care. She is a member of the department’s education committee which is charged with supporting resident education. She is a course director for the second-year medical student musculoskeletal course, creating and executing interactive teaching sessions and curriculum for pre-clinical medical students in musculoskeletal medicine. She has participated in outreach programs such as the Perry Initiative to encourage female high school students to consider careers in STEM and Nth Dimensions with the goal of helping diversify the physician workforce.

Cassandra Lee, M.D., chief of the sports service and chief of diversity and outreach officer, is among the first to place a new shock absorber MISHA implant for knee pain. The MISHA Knee System is an implantable tool that acts like a shock absorber for the knee. It alleviates pressure on the joint, which eases pain and improves function for the patient. She also is one of the first surgeons in the nation to use the CartiHeal™ Agili-C™, an implant intended to repair damaged cartilage. Her involvement in outreach programs such as Nth Dimensions demonstrates our dedication to advancing orthopaedic care and promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in our field.

Nicole Friel, M.D., exemplifies our commitment to excellence in care of athletes of all ages. As a sports surgeon, with a focus on pediatrics, she is also a member of the department’s education committee.

Claire Manske, M.D. is another hand surgeon with advanced training in pediatrics. She is a very successful clinical researcher in congenital brachial plexopathies. As a recipient of the highly competitive NIH KL2 program, she has recently submitted an NIH K08 award.

Janai Carr-Ascher, M.D., Ph.D., is heavily involved in advancing musculoskeletal cancer care and innovation at our institution. Carr-Ascher and Xu recently received a $200,000 NCI Cancer Center Support Grant Pilot award to support their team science. This project focuses on understanding a specific mechanisms of telomere maintenance in sarcomas and other aggressive tumor types. Her lab is housed in our Lawrence Ellison Musculoskeletal Research Lab at Oak Park and focuses on stem cell biology in sarcomagenesis using murine mouse models.

Gabriela Loots, Ph.D., a renowned molecular biologist and expert in bone biology is currently serving as the Doris Linn Chair in Bone Biology and director of our Musculoskeletal Research Laboratory. Loots is developing a new program to study cancer metastasis to bones. Her research is focused on discovering why some cancers favor homing to the bone and how to treat these aggressive cancers. Her groundbreaking work has the potential to revolutionize the way we approach cancer treatment.

Polly Teng, M.D., is a bone endocrinologist and works with our and other musculoskeletal health providers to deliver leading-edge care for patients afflicted with a variety of metabolic bone diseases including osteoporosis. Fragility fractures and related conditions are estimated to currently cost the U.S. $22 billion with an expectation to increase to $95 billion by 2040.

This fall, we are excited to welcome Danielle Brown, M.D., to the oncology service and Adi Wollstein, M.D., to the hand service, expanding our team to a total of 15 women faculty members.

These remarkable achievements of the women in the field of orthopaedic surgery serve as a testament to our department’s ongoing commitment to providing exceptional care, advancing medical knowledge, and promoting diversity and inclusion within our team. The team’s dedication to innovation and patient-centered care continues to drive our progress, setting new standards for orthopaedic surgery and inspiring the next generation.