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Omaha native Michelle Xiao grew up dreaming of playing professional soccer. After several bumps along the way, her dream ultimately came true – in the middle of medical school. Xiao, a 2019 Stanford graduate in biomechanical engineering now in her final year at Stanford School of Medicine, discussed her journey to playing professional soccer in Prague and her path to pursuing orthopedic surgery as a future career.

"In high school, I had an amazing opportunity to participate in a one-day workshop through the Perry Initiative where female students were exposed to the field of orthopedic surgery," she said. "That was the first time that I met female orthopedic surgeons and started to see the specialty as a possible career goal."

"In my junior year at Stanford, while playing soccer in the NCAA tournament, I broke my forearm, needed surgery, and unfortunately had some complications. The recovery process led me to interact with orthopedic surgeons a lot more and gave me more confidence pursuing a career in medicine."

Michelle Xiao sported #5 while playing for Stanford Women's Soccer team from 2015-19.

"After I finished my senior season at Stanford, I felt like it was a natural stopping point as I had some lingering injuries," she explained. "Following undergrad, I spent a year in orthopedic surgery research at Stanford and gained some phenomenal mentors who inspired me to pursue orthopedic surgery as a career."

By the time she started medical school in 2020, Xiao's passion for soccer reignited. She began to feel that her playing days weren't truly over. Seeing her former Stanford teammates pursue professional soccer influenced her as well.

"I consulted with mentors from both medicine and soccer in my third year of medical school, who were encouraging and supportive," she said. "I felt like it was a now-or-never moment – I realized that if I didn't act then, the window to resume soccer after medical school would likely close due to residency commitments."

Xiao played for the Czech soccer club SK Slavia during the 2023-24 season.

"While playing in Europe I connected with the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) medical group after I saw in the news that they had started an initiative to increase prevention and awareness of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries in women," Xiao noted.

She had already conducted research on this topic with her mentors at Stanford.

"For example, some of the studies I've worked on have looked at the impact of turf versus grass on injuries and psychological factors with returning to a sport after injury," she added. "I became a voting member of the group to help them make decisions on consensus statements based on current evidence about ACL injuries in female soccer players."

This experience made her even more invested in research for injury prevention.

"Drawing from my experience as a professional athlete, and now seeing sports medicine through a medical point of view, I feel like I understand the dual perspectives involved in managing athletic injuries," Xiao stated. "You want to keep players safe, but as a player, you want to get back out on the field as soon as possible. Being able to empathize with both sides is very valuable and draws me further into this field of work."

Xiao is currently participating in a month-long medical rotation with the San Francisco 49ers.

"I am applying into orthopedic surgery residency this year," she said. "I am enthusiastic about exploring various subspecialties within the field." The dynamic nature of being an orthopedic sports medicine surgeon appeals to her because it offers an opportunity to continue working with athletes, particularly women's soccer players.

"In pursuit of my career goals, I'd like eventually establish my own academic practice after residency and fellowship," she concluded. "Working at a large academic hospital like Stanford would allow me to engage in patient care, educational activities, and continue my research interests in women's soccer."

In addition to staying active through workouts or pick-up soccer games and traveling extensively during her year abroad—visiting about ten countries—Xiao enjoys watching sports.

"I've been a big San Francisco 49ers fan since being at Stanford," she said. "And now after my rotation I'm a Niners fan for life."

Originally published by Stanford Medicine Pulse.

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