CARING for the CARETAKERS
WORLD
of the
An Interview with Dr. Mona Orady WORDS BY YUKO TABASA
W
omen are incredible, powerful and strong creatures.
They could run the world if they wanted to. Yet, why is
it that women are always underserved and unheard?
Dr. Mona Orady grew to be very familiar with this topic after listening to her mother’s circle of friends vent
about their struggles as women in society. She would often hear the grown-ups complain about not getting the proper healthcare, and how they would feel uncomfortable about being treated by male doctors. And so, at the young age of nine, Dr. Orady had already decided she would become a gynecologist. She wasted no time getting her degree and started medical school at the University of Western Ontario in Canada when she was only 18 years old. Her move to fulfill her residency at the Ohio State University pushed her passion for OB-GYN even further, fostering her passion for minimally invasive surgery. “I felt the main problems that weren’t treated well were a combination of menstrual problems, pelvic pain
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and infertility — all the issues that have to do with the uterus,” Dr. Orady shared. “Basically, every woman was just offered either a birth control pill or a hysterectomy. And I didn’t feel like either option was a good option. And that was kind of what set me on the path of becoming an expert in menstrual disorders.” Now, Dr. Orady is the president of the Society of Laparoendoscopic and Robotic Surgeons, and with more than 10,000 minimally invasive surgeries and over 3,000 robotic surgeries under her belt, she travels the world to teach and mentor medical students, residents and surgeons on advanced minimally invasive surgery techniques and alternative menstrual problem treatments. In this article, she shares her advocacy for giving women the medical or surgical treatment they rightfully deserve.
