{"id":145710,"date":"2025-10-22T20:56:05","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T00:56:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=145710"},"modified":"2025-10-22T21:27:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T01:27:08","slug":"photo-caption-temple-st-lukes-medical-students-maia-clayton-28-left-and-ashley-pacheco-29-right-surgical-instruments-in-hand-join-classmates-in-an-orthopedic-surgical-simulation-u","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=145710","title":{"rendered":"St. Luke\u2019s Partners with the Perry Initiative to Cultivate Future Leaders in Medicine and Engineering"},"content":{"rendered":"

Photo caption: Temple\/St. Luke\u2019s medical students\u00a0Maia Clayton ’28 (left) and Ashley Pacheco ’29 (right),\u00a0surgical instruments in hand, join classmates in an orthopedic surgical simulation under the guidance of St. Luke\u2019s orthopedic hand surgeon Dr. Kimberly Zambito (back).\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

St. Luke\u2019s University Health Network proudly hosted dynamic Perry Initiative outreach programs at St. Luke\u2019s University Hospital in Bethlehem on October 17 and 18, designed to inspire the next generation of leaders in orthopedic surgery and engineering. The events took place in the Priscilla Payne Hurd Education Center, located on the hospital campus.<\/p>\n

The Perry Initiative is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing career exploration and hands-on learning opportunities in orthopedic surgery and engineering. Through its outreach programs held across the country, the initiative aims to inspire and empower students to pursue careers in medicine and STEM.<\/p>\n

On Friday, Oct. 17, the Medical Student Outreach Program welcomed 17 students from the Temple\/St. Luke\u2019s Medical School. Participants engaged in two surgical simulations to repair bone fractures using different techniques. They also received mentorship from St. Luke\u2019s orthopedic surgeons and residents, gaining insight into the pathway to a career in orthopedics and the steps required to succeed in the field.<\/p>\n

The following day, 31 local high school students participated in an immersive, all-day program. Students performed surgical simulations to reconstruct knee joint ligaments using three different methods and practiced various suturing techniques. Throughout the day, they learned from prominent surgeons, engineers and leaders in orthopedics and biomedical engineering.<\/p>\n

Orthopedic hand surgeon Dr. Kimberly Zambito spearheaded the initiative at St. Luke\u2019s, supported by residents and members of the St. Luke\u2019s orthopedic team.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s incredibly rewarding to watch students discover their potential through hands-on experience,\u201d said Dr. Zambito. \u201cWe\u2019re not just teaching skills; we\u2019re opening doors to futures they may not have imagined.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAt St. Luke\u2019s, we believe in mentoring and empowering future professionals. These programs are a powerful way to show students what\u2019s possible,\u201d added Dr. Douglas Lundy, SLUHN Chairman of Orthopedics. \u201cBy combining hands-on experience with real-world mentorship, we\u2019re helping shape the future of medicine and engineering.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Perry Initiative continues to be a cornerstone of St. Luke\u2019s commitment to education, innovation, and community engagement. The success of this year\u2019s events reflects the dedication of the SLUHN Orthopedic Department and the enthusiasm of the students who participated.<\/p>\n

These programs were made possible through the generous support of Zimmer Biomet Foundation, Stryker Joint Replacement Division, OrthoPediatrics, and St. Luke\u2019s University Health Network.<\/p>\n

For more information on The Perry Initiative, visit www.perryinitiative.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

About St. Luke\u2019s <\/strong><\/p>\n

Founded in 1872, St. Luke\u2019s University Health Network (SLUHN) is a fully integrated, regional, non-profit network with annual net revenue of more than $4 billion. With 23,000+ employees at 16 hospital campuses and 350+ outpatient sites, it is the Lehigh Valley\u2019s biggest employer.<\/p>\n

The Network\u2019s service area includes 11 counties in two states: Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Montgomery, Monroe, Schuylkill and Luzerne counties in Pennsylvania and Warren and Hunterdon counties in New Jersey. St. Luke\u2019s hospitals operate the largest network of trauma centers in Pennsylvania, with the Bethlehem Campus being home to St. Luke\u2019s Children\u2019s Hospital.<\/p>\n

Dedicated to advancing medical education, St. Luke\u2019s is the preeminent teaching hospital in central-eastern Pennsylvania. In partnership with Temple University, the Network established the Lehigh Valley\u2019s first and only four-year medical school. It also operates the nation\u2019s oldest School of Nursing, established in 1884, and 50+ fully accredited graduate medical educational programs with 500+ residents and fellows.<\/p>\n

St. Luke\u2019s has been named a Leapfrog Group and Healthgrades Top Hospital and a Newsweek World\u2019s Best Hospital. It is the only Lehigh Valley-based health care system to earn Medicare\u2019s five-star ratings (the highest) for quality, efficiency and patient satisfaction. In 2025, the Network earned straight A\u2019s from Leapfrog across all of its 11 acute care hospitals. It has earned 100 Top Hospital designations from Premier 11 years in a row, including in 2021 when its flagship University Hospital was identified as THE #1 TEACHING HOSPITAL IN THE COUNTRY. Utilizing the Epic electronic medical record (EMR) system for both inpatient and outpatient services, the Network is a multi-year recipient of the Most Wired award recognizing the breadth of SLUHN\u2019s information technology applications such as telehealth, online scheduling and online pricing information.<\/p>\n

Information provided to TVL by:
\nGary Blockus<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photo caption: Temple\/St. Luke\u2019s medical students\u00a0Maia Clayton ’28 (left) and Ashley Pacheco ’29 (right),\u00a0surgical instruments in hand, join classmates in an orthopedic surgical simulation under the guidance of St. Luke\u2019s … Continue reading St. Luke\u2019s Partners with the Perry Initiative to Cultivate Future Leaders in Medicine and Engineering<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":145711,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[69,482],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-145710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-the-valley","category-press-release-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/bones.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145710"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=145710"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145710\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/145711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=145710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=145710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=145710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}