My name's Dr. Jasen Gilley. I'm one of the orthopedic surgeons at Signature Orthopedics and I subspecialize in foot and ankle. I'm born and raised in St. Louis. I grew up down the street. I went to Parkway North.
I think the best thing about orthopedics is you get to come in, deal with people, have personal interactions on a day-to-day basis and help them get better.
We take care of the whole body. If anybody injures that I'm happy to see them, but what I really focus on is the foot and ankle. So we do total ankle arthroplasty - well versed in that - sports-related ankle injuries. We take care of fractures of the foot and ankle all the time and even things like deformity of the foot - so if somebody has bunions or something like that, that's also something that I'm happy to take care of.
I tore my knee and I had ACL surgery when I was in high school and so that's kind of what got me into it and why I went to med school and ultimately why I choose orthopedics after med school. I just want to treat people the way I was treated. That's what got me in. And my doctor had a great bedside manner and it wasn't talking down to me and so that's kind of how I approach everything.
I want to be a part of the process with the patient and the other thing is I want them to know that even though I am a surgeon, my first goal is to do everything possible for them to avoid the OR (operating room). I don't want people going for surgery that don't need it. So I try any and everything that we can before we get to the point of having to offer surgery.