June 9, 2022 | Lauren Woods - Schools of Medicine and Dental Medicine

Orthopaedic Surgeon Dr. Katherine Coyner Named Prestigious ELAM Fellow

Dr. Katherine Coyner, associate professor of orthopedic surgery, has been selected for ELAM's prestigious one-year leadership fellowship for women.

Katherine J. Coyner, MD, is an orthopaedic surgeon at UConn Health.

UConn Health’s Dr. Katherine Coyner, associate professor of orthopedic surgery, has been selected to participate in a prestigious one-year ELAM women’s leadership fellowship. ELAM is The Hedwig van Ameringen Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine® Program for Women.

“I am so honored to be selected for this prestigious women’s leadership fellowship,” says Coyner. “ELAM is all about leadership development and I look forward to honing my leadership skills further and gaining new ones. Participation in the program will not only help enhance our orthopaedic surgery clinical program but also will improve the field of orthopaedic surgery for the next generation of surgeons to come which is my passion.”

Coyner is board-certified in orthopedic surgery and her subspecialty is sports medicine. She provides advanced treatment and surgical options for patients with a wide range of sports-related injuries and conditions of the shoulder, hip, and knee. She also is a UConn team physician providing coverage at numerous collegiate sporting events.

Coyner has founded the program Inspiring Women in Engineering and Medicine (IWEM) which hosts hands-on educational workshops to introduce young women to the medical sciences, including the field of orthopedic surgery. Her mission is to propel more females into these career fields, especially orthopaedic surgery, as only about 7 percent of orthopaedic surgeons are currently women.

ELAM® alumnae number over 1,200 and serve in leadership positions at 295 academic health centers around the world. ELAM is hosted at Drexel University College of Medicine. The medical school is carrying on the legacy of advancing women in medicine begun by the Female Medical College of Pennsylvania, the nation’s first degree-granting women’s medical school and a predecessor of Drexel University College of Medicine.

Coyner is part of ELAM’s largest ever incoming class of 72 fellows. She begins her ELAM classes this June and will complete the fellowship by next spring.

“We are extremely excited to see the impact these women will have on their institutions,” says Dr. Nancy D. Spector, executive director of ELAM, about its incoming Class of 2022-2023. “The women are exceptional leaders who are capable of making critical systemic change in their institutions. The need for the highest quality leaders in academic health care has never been greater, and we are doing everything we can to help meet that need by providing outstanding and innovative leadership training for women.”

ELAM is the only longitudinal program in North America dedicated to preparing women for senior leadership roles in schools of medicine, dentistry, public health and pharmacy. The prestigious program is dedicated to developing the professional and personal skills required to lead and manage in today’s complex health care environment, with special attention to the unique challenges facing women in leadership positions.

Coyner was nominated for the program by UConn School of Medicine Dean Dr. Bruce T. Liang, who also serves as interim CEO of UConn Health.

“Dr. Coyner is already an amazing leader and inspiration to her colleagues and so many medical students and residents,” says Liang. “Congratulations to Dr. Coyner. I know the ELAM fellowship program will take her leadership skills to even greater heights.”