Bones, Brilliance and Beyond: Celebrating the Career of Gaia Georgopoulos, MD
There was never a question for Gaia Georgopoulos, MD, on what career path she wanted to pursue.“ I have always wanted to be a doctor— since grade school,” Dr. Georgopoulos says.“ But I actually have no idea why that was because I always hated going to the doctor.”
Though she isn’ t sure why she wanted to be a doctor, she does know when she became interested in orthopedic medicine. After suffering sports-related injuries in high school, she decided to attend a six-year program at the University of Michigan where she set off on an accelerated path to finish her undergraduate and medical degrees at the same time.
After graduating, Dr. Georgopoulos came to Children’ s Hospital Colorado for an orthopedic fellowship. Following two years at the University of South Carolina, she jumped at the chance to come back to Children’ s Colorado to start what would become a 34-year career as a pediatric orthopedic surgeon.
Over the course of her career, Dr. Georgopoulos served as a role model for her entire team, but especially for the women she’ s worked with.
“ I was the only woman in my residency for the whole five years, and I never thought about it at the time,” Dr. Georgopoulos says.“ I think the only downside for me was that there really wasn’ t a role model. There wasn’ t someone I could look to and recognize that I could get married, have a family and still be an orthopedic surgeon.”
Yet, Dr. Georgopoulos managed to do it all— including dedicating a lifelong career to improving the lives of children.
The technology that transformed a career and a field
Throughout her career, Dr. Georgopoulos was an advocate for new technology and advancements in orthopedics. Since the beginning of her career, the fracture and trauma, clubfoot and hip dysplasia fields have expanded rapidly, leading to more advanced operations. This allowed Dr. Georgopoulos to more effectively treat fractures and hip dysplasia that would have previously been cast, or in some cases, treated with traction that required a child to be hospitalized for several weeks. Through these changes, she has always been a champion for improvement, adopting new treatment options like the Ponseti method to treat clubfoot. By implementing these advancements, Dr. Georgopoulos worked to ensure her patients’ care and happiness was always at the forefront.
“ In terms of the direction of technologies and techniques, it’ s all pointed toward getting the kids back to being normal kids as soon as possible,” Dr. Georgopoulos says.
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