Tamarandobra “Dobra” Ogeh went into medical school with an open mind, but the orthopedic specialty always found its way into her life. Now, Ogeh is gearing up to complete a one-month rotation with the Detroit Lions as part of the NFL Diversity in Sports Medicine Pipeline Initiative.
The initiative—now in just its second year—was started as a way to diversify sports medicine and make a positive impact on medical students like Ogeh.
The third-year Michigan State med student discovered her love of orthopedics when she was an undergrad exercise science student at George Washington University. Ogeh was a rugby player during college and had the opportunity to complete her clinical experience with a physician who also happened to be an orthopedic surgeon.
“Orthopedics was the thing that I loved the most,” Ogeh said. “I would do a rotation and I was like—Oh, this is alright. But I would do orthopedics, or I'd go into an orthopedic surgical case, and I would be so excited. I love the field. I love the medicine. I love the people. I love the patient population, and I love what you do for people.”
Earlier this year, it was announced that what started as a small program offered to only the four Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) medical schools would now be expanded to include 19 participating universities.
"Working toward diverse representation across all roles in our league continues to be a top priority, and this program helps us make a tangible impact to grow and bolster a pipeline of diverse sports medicine professionals," NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said when the expansion was announced. "We know that diversity makes us stronger at every level, and we look forward to welcoming the 2023 class to our player care teams at clubs across the league."
Orthopedic surgery and sports medicine are fields that are historically underrepresented in diverse communities. In 2021, only 5.8% of sports medicine physicians identified as Black and even less than that number are Black women.
For Ogeh, this disparity nearly led her down a different path during her first two years in med school, but in her third year, she started making connections and finding mentors that reinforced to her that she was good enough and able to go into orthopedics.
“There's not a lot of representation, so for me, a lot of it was like—oh, I know I want to do this field, but no one looks like me,” Ogeh said. “I would be like—I don't know if I actually can do this, like I might just be kidding myself. I don't know, maybe I just find something else, it seems difficult, it seems competitive—like all of the things that you say to yourself when you don't think you're good enough.”
Starting in July, Ogeh will have the opportunity to experience first-hand the day-to-day as an NFL club medical staff member during her rotation. Although she is focusing in orthopedic surgery, Ogeh says that first and foremost, she is a student, and she is also excited to learn about all the aspects—not just orthopedic—that go into running an elite NFL team.
“At the end of the day, if I'm doing this, I get a great experience, but I'm also doing it so that I can lay some groundwork (for the future) so it's going to be a better experience for other people as well.”
