From Injury to Impact: Alexia Lau’s Path to Orthopedic Surgery

Alexia Lau's path toward orthopedic surgery began with an injury.

Long before she became a member of the UC San Diego women's rowing team or began conducting spine research at UC San Diego, Lau was a gymnast. She spent 13 years in the sport before breaking her elbow at the beginning of high school and undergoing surgery.

For Lau, the injury sparked a curiosity that would eventually shape her academic and professional ambitions.

"I studied the anatomy of my elbow to understand where the screw was actually going to go, and I watched videos similar to my own surgery," Lau said. "I found it so cool that one screw completely stabilized my elbow for the rest of my life."

That curiosity never went away.

Finding a Passion for Orthopedics

After her freshman year at UC San Diego, Lau spent the summer shadowing orthopedic surgeons. She quickly discovered that she wanted to learn more.

She loved observing surgeries in the operating room, but she was equally fascinated by the work happening in the clinic, where she saw patients dealing with injuries and conditions ranging from arthritis to other degenerative and inflammatory conditions.

"I loved being in the operating room and seeing all the surgeries," Lau said. "I loved being in clinic, learning about all of the different injuries and degenerative and inflammatory conditions."

The experience convinced her that research was the next step in understanding the field.

While considering the different areas of orthopedic surgery, Lau found herself drawn to two possibilities: sports injuries and spine injuries. Ultimately, a response from a spine surgeon came just seven hours before a response from a sports surgeon.

That small difference in timing helped determine the direction of her research.

Lau began conducting pediatric orthopedic spine research at Rady Children's Hospital during her sophomore year, focusing primarily on adolescent idiopathic scoliosis.

Her work included data entry, analyzing and measuring X-rays, measuring patients' spine flexibility, and studying surgical outcomes and patient satisfaction.

She later expanded her research by joining Dr. Bahar Shahidi's spine neuromuscular lab at UC San Diego, where she now conducts translational adult spine research.

"I get to study pediatric spine, adult spine, do clinical research and basic lab translational research," Lau said. "I get a good idea of the full story of what the spine can look like from when you're a kid to when you're 70 to 80 years old."

Research From Multiple Perspectives

Lau's work in the spine neuromuscular lab has given her the opportunity to study spine health from several different perspectives.

One of her projects focuses on adult spine pain. Lau works directly with research participants, helping scan them in an MRI machine and conducting exercises designed to examine muscle contraction and the connection between the brain and back muscles.

The MRI scans allow researchers to examine blood perfusion in the back muscles, while another portion of the experiment uses transcranial magnetic stimulation to activate neurons in the brain and study the signals traveling to the lumbar muscles.

For Lau, the research has personal significance.

"Like a lot of people in my family, my parents and grandparents have lower back pain," she said. "To be able to study something that they struggle with is very cool."

Her second project takes place in a more traditional laboratory setting.

Working with spinal tissue provided by a doctor at Scripps Hospital, Lau conducts biomechanical testing on ligaments to determine how much force and tension they can withstand. She then performs histological analyses to examine the microscopic characteristics of the tissue, including its collagen, fat and protein composition.

The variety of her research has given Lau a comprehensive understanding of the field she hopes to enter.

Taking Research Into the Operating Room

Lau's research experience became even more meaningful when she had the opportunity to see its impact firsthand.

Earlier this year, she traveled to Monterrey, Mexico, on a volunteer medical mission with Global Spine Outreach, a nonprofit organization that provides free clinical treatment and surgeries to children with scoliosis.

The organization sends teams of surgeons and volunteers to countries including Mexico, Brazil, and Colombia to provide care to children who otherwise may not have access to the specialized treatment they need.

During the mission, Lau worked as a scrub technician, passing instruments to surgeons and assisting during procedures.

She even had the opportunity to help place a screw during a spinal fusion surgery and assist with suturing.

But the most meaningful part of the experience came after the surgeries.

The day following surgery, Lau joined the medical team during rounds, visiting patients as they got out of bed and took their first steps after surgery.

Many of the children had lived with severe spinal curvature and pain that had affected their ability to walk, participate in sports, and enjoy everyday life.

Seeing their transformation helped connect Lau's research with the patients she ultimately hopes to serve.

"They take their first steps with their new back and they look at themselves in the mirror, and they're just smiling so much," Lau said. "They're not in pain anymore. Their back is straight now, and they grew a couple inches taller."

For Lau, those moments reinforced the reason she chose to pursue orthopedic spine research.

"I feel like it makes my research very meaningful because I would hope to one day be able to apply all my knowledge into a clinical and surgical setting in my career," she said.

More Than a Triton

As Lau enters her senior year as a psychology major in Roosevelt college, she already has a clear idea of where she hopes her path will lead.

After graduation, she plans to attend medical school with the goal of becoming an orthopedic surgeon.

Exactly which area of orthopedics she will pursue remains an open question.

With specialties ranging from sports and spine to hand, foot and ankle, trauma, oncology, adult reconstruction and pediatric orthopedics, Lau wants to continue exploring before deciding where she can make the greatest impact.

For now, she is grateful for the experiences that have allowed her to explore so many sides of the field.

From the injury that first sparked her curiosity, to years of research, to standing alongside surgeons during a medical mission, each experience has brought her closer to the career she envisions.

Rowing has also given Lau a different perspective on what it means to work toward a goal with others.

"In gymnastics, you compete for yourself. But with rowing, you are in a boat with eight other girls supporting you and you are doing everything together. You are basically one person on the water," Lau said.

That same sense of collaboration has followed Lau beyond the water, shaping the way she approaches research, medicine and the people she hopes to serve.

Her journey has taken her from the gymnastics floor to the rowing course, from the research laboratory to the operating room, and from studying spinal anatomy to seeing firsthand how treatment can change a patient's life.

Each experience has helped shape the future Lau is working toward, one that she hopes will ultimately bring her research, her curiosity, and her passion for orthopedics together in the operating room.

Fuel the Future of Triton Athletics
Support scholar-athletes like Alexia Lau by donating to the Triton Athletic Fund or the sport of your choice. Visit TritonAthleticFund.com for more information.

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About UC San Diego Athletics
After two decades as one of the most successful programs in NCAA Division II, the UC San Diego intercollegiate athletics program has begun a new era as a member of The Big West in NCAA Division I. The 24-sport Tritons earned 30 team and nearly 150 individual national championships during its time in Divisions II and III and helped guide 1,400 scholar-athletes to All-America honors. A total of 84 Tritons have earned Academic All-America honors, while 38 have garnered prestigious NCAA Post Graduate Scholarships. UC San Diego scholar-athletes exemplify the academic ideals of one of the world's preeminent institutions, graduating at an average rate of 90 percent, the highest rate among public institutions in NCAA Division I or II. For more information on the Tritons, visit UCSDtritons.com or follow UC San Diego Athletics on social media @UCSDtritons.