Lee Pulaski, lpulaski@shawanoleader.com
The Perry Initiative seeks to inspire young women to pursue careers in the medical sciences, and it is coming to Shawano this spring.
With the help of ThedaCare and Shawano School District, a day-long outreach program will be held April 12 at Shawano Community High School. The event is expected to include lectures and laboratory sessions where students perform mock surgeries.
“It’s a group out of San Francisco that tries to encourage women in two areas that are underrepresented — engineering and orthopaedic surgery,” said Dr. Derek Johnson, a ThedaCare physician and School Board member. “We will be the only program in Wisconsin.”
The Perry Initiative started in 2009 with 15 students at one site. In 2013, the program reached 950 students at 24 locations nationwide.
Johnson said that the outreach programs typically take place at medical schools, noting that programs are being offered soon at Harvard and Yale universities.
The Shawano program will be open to 36 sophomore, junior and senior girls. Participation is not limited to SCHS students, Johnson said.
The girls will be provided with everything they need to go through six types of orthopaedic surgeries.
Johnson said Perry Initiative officials “hope that this will be an ongoing event, an annual event.”
Details on enrollment are still being worked out, but applicants will be required to write an essay, Johnson said.
“I was just ecstatic that they wanted to do this. They tried to do something at the medical college in Wisconsin, but it’s fallen through,” Johnson said. “It’s a big deal for them to choose our site.”