Mary I. O’Connor, MD is founder and Chief Medical Officer of Vori Health, a virtual musculoskeletal company focus on transforming the delivery of patient-centered and value drive care. She is a nationally recognized leader in health equity and Chair of the Board of Directors of Movement is Life, a nonprofit multi-stakeholder coalition committed to addressing musculoskeletal health disparities. Her new book, “Taking Care of You: The Empowered Woman’s Guide to Better Health,” supports women advocating for equitable healthcare. A past Olympian (US Women’s Rowing), she is passionate in her promotion of the power of sports for girls and women.

Dr. O’Connor is Professor Emerita of Orthopedics at Mayo Clinic and past Professor of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation at Yale School of Medicine. She received her MD from Drexel University and completed her residency in orthopedics and fellowship in orthopedic oncology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. She practiced at Mayo Clinic in Florida until 2015 during which time she served in many leadership roles: Enterprise-wide Medical Director of the Office of Integrity and Compliance; Chair, Orthopedic Surgery Department (Florida); Medical Director for Development (Florida); and member of the Executive Operations Team (Florida). In 2015, she became the inaugural Director of the Center for Musculoskeletal Care at Yale School of Medicine and Yale New Haven Health. In February 2021, Dr. O’Connor became a founder and Chief Medical Officer at Vori Health to advance her passion for transforming musculoskeletal care.

Dr. O’Connor has published extensively on clinical research and innovation in care pathways, hip fracture care, limb salvage for tumor, sex and gender differences in arthritis, and regenerative medicine. At Yale, she led the creation of a multidisciplinary hip fracture program which transformed clinical outcomes and promoted innovation in the care of this vulnerable population.  She authors a quarterly column in Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research entitled, “Equity360: Gender, Race and Ethnicity,” to advance health equity in the orthopedic profession.

She has broken numerous gender barriers as the first female member of the Musculoskeletal Tumor Society (MSTS), the International Society of Limb Salvage (ISOLS), the American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons (AAHKS) and The Knee Society. She is the Past President of the Association of Bone and Joint Surgeon, AAHKS, ISOLS, MSTS and the Ruth Jackson Orthopaedic Society. She is past Chair of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgery (AAOS) Diversity Advisory Board and the AAOS Women’s Health Issues Advisory Board, founding member of the AAHKS Women in Arthroplasty Group, past board member of the Perry Foundation, and member of the AAHKS Diversity Advisory Board. She is past member of the Advisory Committee on Research on Women’s Health at NIH.

Dr. O’Connor has received numerous awards and honors during her training and career, including the 2023 AAOS Diversity Award, 2023 AAHKS Diversity Award, Distinguished Clinician Award at Mayo Clinic, and the Corinne Farrell Award from the International Skeletal Society. She received the Congressional Gold Medal as a 1980 Olympian (Women’s Rowing).