2025 OTA High School Scholars Program
Course Date: Wednesday, October 15, 2025
Course location: Phoenix Convention Center, Phoenix, AZ
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Orthopaedic Trauma Association High School Scholars Program:
This program was launched in 2022 and due to its success as a first-time event and OTA’s high value for diversity, equity, and inclusion, it is OTA’s desire to offer the Orthopaedic Trauma Association High School Scholars Program to run concurrently with the OTA Annual Meeting each year.
OTA recognizes that despite the growing diversity of the US population, orthopaedic surgery has remained one of the least diverse surgical subspecialities in medicine. The slow increase in underrepresented minority (URM) senior faculty reflects the lack of underrepresented orthopaedic residents. Many barriers to URM students seeking careers in orthopaedic surgery include lack of exposure, in-home obstacles, high school peer pressure, lack of URM role models, and even negative stereotyping of URM students at all educational levels. The OTA High School Scholars Program provides early orthopaedic exposure with the goal of increasing diversity in orthopaedic surgery.
Objectives of this program:
- Provide early orthopaedic trauma exposure to local high school women and underrepresented/underserved minority students at the OTA Annual Meeting.
- Encourage orthopaedic careers in students from communities that are significantly underrepresented in orthopaedic surgery.
- Provide hands-on exposure to orthopaedic procedures.
- Profile additional career paths that intersect with medicine and orthopaedic surgery.
Target Audience
OTA intends to have 40 students from the Phoenix area to attend. OTA is reaching out to local high schools who may be interested. If you are interested in participating, please email ota@ota.org to get more information.