126. Breaking with Tradition with Orthopedic Surgeon Ashley Bassett

126. Breaking with Tradition with Orthopedic Surgeon Ashley Bassett

Introducing Ashley Bassett

Today I’m talking to orthopedic surgeon Dr. Ashley Bassett about breaking with tradition.

Her Career Journey

Ashley earned her BS in biochemistry from the University of Rochester before completing her MD at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. She finished her orthopedic residency in the Harvard Combined Orthopaedic Residency Program as well as a fellowship in sports medicine at the Rothman Orthopaedic Institute at Thomas Jefferson University. She is a sports medicine orthopedic surgeon at the Orthopedic Institute of New Jersey and the Director of the Women’s Sports Medicine Center. Additionally, she is a team physician for USA Gymnastics and the co-host of the podcast, The Sports Docs.

Breaking With Tradition

Ashley has been able to take the parts of academic medicine she loved and made it work for her. She started her podcast with Catherine Logan to recreate the teaching and learning parts of journal club that she loved while having more fun in the process. She’s also found ways to continue covering pro sports teams as a team physician for USA Gymnastics, something she was told was impossible without connections to a huge medical system. By breaking with tradition, Ashley has found environments and opportunities that support her and allow her to reach an even larger audience.

Inside this episode:

  • Ashley didn’t always know that she wanted to be an orthopedic surgeon. Rather than dwelling on how her past experiences didn’t line up with what became her end goal, Ashley chose to highlight what she learned and how she grew along the way. 
  • She advises younger students to keep an open mind to new experiences and follow what interests them instead of thinking that starting over means losing all of the experiences they’ve built up to that point.
  • Ashley actively searched for orthopedic residency programs with women attendings and viewed a lack of women in a department as a red flag that something more might be going on.
  • As an active member of the Ruth Jackson Orthopaedic Society, Ashley knows that the best way to get more women involved in orthopedics is for women to initiate it themselves through sharing opportunities and connecting trainees to mentors. This is helping to break the harmful false narrative that “there can only be one” woman in a department or practice.
  • Ashley co-hosts a podcast with former Madam Athlete guest, Catherine Logan, which allows her the chance to participate in the components of teaching she misses the most from academic medicine. She’s found a way to break from the traditional path and make it work for her.
  • She advises women to let themselves be guided by their experiences and interests and to reach out to women in those fields, multiple times, if necessary.

Resources

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