As engineer and surgeon, she knows knees

Her study of mechanical engineering led her to medical school, with a dose of music on the side.

By JODIE TILLMAN, Times Staff Writer
Published October 28, 2007

Jennifer Cook, M.D. is an orthopedic surgeon that started working in New Port Richey one year ago. While working on the mechanical side of medicine, she found that she enjoyed working in the hospital. She specializes in knees, including replacements and scopes.
	[David Degner | Times]

NEW PORT RICHEY - As a student at the University of Michigan, Jennifer Cook was on her way to becoming an engineer. Her research included studying what forces sped up or slowed down the healing of fractures in laboratory rats.

But some of the professors in her lab were also medical doctors who got her to visit a local hospital.

Once that happened, she was hooked.

"I said I don't want to just be in research, sitting at a desk my whole life," said Cook. "I really want to be working with patients."

Cook, a Virginia native, got that mechanical engineering degree - and went on to get a medical degree withHarvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology through a joint program of the two schools. She completed her orthopedic residency at Harvard.

Now, at 33, she is the newest surgeon at the Florida Joint Replacement and Sports Medicine Center in New Port Richey.

Cook lives with her husband, Brendan Lewis, who is a computer consultant, and their dog, a yellow Labrador named Bora, in the Sea Forest community in New Port Richey. Cook recently talked with the Pasco Times about her work - and play.

You have a lot of research experience. Is there one project that influenced you the most in what you're doing now?

Well a lot of my research was in knee replacement surgeries and that's my love. ... I've done a lot of work studying infections with knee replacements and that was my thesis when I was at Harvard for my residency.

What I was looking at was what kinds of infections people have and where do they come from. Infections don't just happen. They usually come from somewhere else in the body and go to the knee replacement. Because what happens when you have knee replacement is you have increased blood flow to that area as part of the healing process. When bacteria get in the blood they go to where the blood flows most. ... So usually if someone has a dental abscess or a urinary tract infection ... bacteria most likely will go to the knee. So what I was looking at ... was the best way to treat that.

What do you like about it?

When I was growing up, I thought I'd be in engineering. I always really liked math and science, but I also always wanted to do something that was community service oriented.

... Orthopedics has a lot of mechanical engineering principles to it. When you think of mechanical engineering you think of looking at a machine. Well, the body is really a fascinating machine. And that's how orthopedics looks at the body, as a machine with stresses and strains that go across it.

What should people know about their knees?

Maintaining a healthy weight is probably one of the best things you can do. With each step, three to five times your body weight goes across your knee joint. When you're doing running or jumping, that number goes up to seven times (the body weight.) A little change in weight can really help or hurt your knee pain.

I saw on your resume that when you're not at work you like to play musical instruments. What do you play?

I've played flute since I was 9 years old. I was really involved in high school. I liked playing through college and even through medical school. In college, I played in the orchestra and at medical school I played with a flute choir until I started having to take calls. When I started to have to take calls, then it became a little tricky.

Did your beeper go off during a concert?

Well (laughs), that's what I was worried about. It started going off during practices.

What about down here?

We have a music room in my house. My husband plays drums and I also took guitar lessons, so ... we have our own little mini-band.

How have you and your husband found living in Pasco?

Well, we realized we're the youngest people in our neighborhood and we don't have any children, either, but we've been expanding our friend circle. There are people here our age. It's just a matter of finding them. We chose this area because our dream was to have a home on the water, and this is one of the few areas in the country you can actually afford that.

Jodie Tillman can be reached at jtillman@sptimes.com or (727) 869-6247.

To view Jennifer Cook's personal Web site, go to: http://www.orthojen.com

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To view Jennifer Cook's personal Web site, go to: http://www.orthojen.com

[Last modified October 27, 2007, 20:41:13]