Kelly Adair- Cheif of Staff- Steadman Hawkins Clinc- Mentor Interview
Me: Tell me a little bit about yourself. Where were you born? How did you get to where you are today?
Kelly: I grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I ended up doing my undergraduate degree at Boulder (University of Colorado- Boulder) and that’s how I ended up in Vail, Colorado, working with the Steadman Philippon Research Institute. My background was kinesiology so I was very interested in Steadman’s mission of keeping people active and that’s how I ended up here.
Me: Why were interested in kinesiology?
Kelly: Great question. I was very active growing up. I played a lot of sports and I just wanted to have a better understanding, personally, of my body and how it worked. So from a musculoskeletal level, I was studying anatomy when I was in high school and even I was an architect degree. So I was trying to figure that out and that’s how I really ended up learning kinesiology and wanting to go into it.
Me: What exactly do you do here at SPRI?
Kelly: Okay, so here I am transitioning from Director of Surgical Skills, which is running, coordinating, and administering surgical skills education labs, which is where surgeons will practice hands on and they will actually practice new surgical techniques so they can really optimize how they are performing a surgery and all that is done with cadaveric specimens. The new role I have is Chief of Staff and so that is over the clinic (Steadman Hawkins Clinic) and the institute (Steadman Philippon Research Institute) and that is basically the CEO's right hand man, and so I am involved in a lot of administrative work and a lot of new initiatives we have- for both companies.
Me: What do you want you want to get out of this job?
Kelly: I just want it to be rewarding. I want it to help people and do what I love- do what I am passionate about, which is I would say is anything related to the human body and improving health and wellness and fitness. So that’s what really keeps me around here is that at the end of the day we are helping patients and we are helping patients by improving research and delivering innovative research from a clinical level.
Me: Can you tell me a little bit about your time at college, how your major was, or how that guided you to where you are now.
Kelly: Well my major was very dynamic. It was basically premed without organic chemistry but i was able to pick which upper level classes I wanted to take so I could really focus on exercise and movement science and so that’s what I did. Predominantly I took anatomy, exercise physiology, neurophysiology, biomechanics, and also endocrinology, so how hormones affect your fitness. So that was my experience with school and that is why I picked that major.
Me: If you were to do it over again, would you chose the same route?
Kelly: Yeah, I would. I would because even though I didn’t go into my initial plan of physical therapy, I am still surrounded by an organization that is promoting health and wellness and keeping people active so even though I am not a therapist per say, I am still involved with it and I understand it from my undergraduate degree. It helps provide a lot of value to my colleagues and people that I understand that basic knowledge.
Me: What do you think the future holds for this field?
Kelly: I think there’s a lot. There’s a lot of potential in this future with where we are currently with technology, from 3D printing to robotics and just general different IT. There’s a lot of room for improvement within healthcare. I don’t want to say our system is necessarily outdated but we need more research that is helping patients and that is outcomes driven and so I think there is a lot of room to improve with technological applications and basic research methods.
Me: Do you have any advice for me for the future?
Kelly: Advice?
Me: Yeah!
Kelly: *laughs* Find something that you’re one- truly passionate about, two- that has a huge market, with the respect of business, and three- find some kinds of problems to solve and that can be market and business related, that can be medical related, that can be engineering related, it could be a lot of things, so for me I guess, it’s all about my passion and now I’m finding where I can add my value. Finding where you can add value is knowing yourself, knowing your strengths, and knowing your weakness and how you can work well with others. And that is me personally, full transparency, I have figured out what my strengths are and if you focus on them you can do really well at whatever you want to do. Just utilize your strengths. We don’t always have that mentality, it’s usually lets improve where we’re weak and I don’t think that is always the best approach. You should just know them and partner with people that have strengths where your weaknesses are. (*adds after a minute) ...and don’t be afraid to fail.
Me: What has been a struggle or failure that made you grow or taught you something?
Kelly: Okay here’s a small one. It’s a full circle. It’s a mini failure. I failed my first anatomy class I took in undergraduate, but it was my favorite class and taking that anatomy class I didn’t do a good job memorizing, and I have never done a good job with that, and that’s why I failed. However, I learned a lot and I retook that class. To come full circle, not being afraid to fail and being able to learn how I wanted to learn, I got a lot of information from that experience and it really put me where I am today. It’s being okay with failing at something you love. If you just keep going after it you will figure out what you love.
Me: Anything else you would like to say?
Kelly: Work hard, play hard, and have fun in what you do. Surround yourself with good people. Find people that are like minded, you know, dream big and take action on it, one day at a time. And I guess that’s one thing I feel very passionate about, a lot of people are willing to talk about ideas and talk about what they want to do but, at the end of the day you just have to take action. Those would be my words of wisdom.