PEORIA MAGAZINE February 2023

S P O T L I G H T

FROM ATHLETE TO ORTHOPEDIST The Journey of Dr. Miguel Ramirez

BY AMY TALCOTT PHOTO BY RON JOHNSON

I t ’s said that our experiences shape us. In the case of Dr. Miguel Ramirez, his experiences have led him to become one of the premier orthopedic surgeons in central Illinois. Ramirez, 41 , was born in the Dominican Republic, the oldest of four children. “My dad, Miguel, worked for Colgate, and we moved a lot,” he said. “We were in the Dominican Republic until I was 10, thenwe lived in Venezuela, El Salvador, the Philippines … basically all over the world.” As a teen, Ramirez excelled at sports, specifically basketball, baseball and track. He was so talented, in fact, that he played on national teams for all three, competing throughout Central America. “Being in high school, I was the youngest person on the team, playing in a semi professional league,” he said. “I ate, slept and breathed sports.” At 16, Ramirez moved to Austin, Texas to attend St. Stephen’s, a boarding school. His parents “wanted to give me more exposure to sports as well as provide me with better opportunities for a college education,” he said, “and the States was the best place to do that.” Baseball took him to the University

of Kansas, but numerous shoulder and knee injuries limited his progress. “I thought I was going to be a professional athlete,” Ramirez said. “When I realized that wasn’t going to happen, I started thinking about alternative fields. With all my injuries, I had a lot of experience with orthopedic surgeons, and that piqued my interest in medicine.” BALTIMORE BOUND After finishing up at KUwith a degree ingenetics, he attendedHarvardMedical School, graduating cum laude in 2008. “Thiswas a big deal,” saidRamirez. “Once I realized that athletics wasn’t going to bemy career, I had to learn how to study – and that was tough.” He embarked on a six-year residency inBaltimore at UnionMemorial Hospital, The JohnsHopkinsUniversity, TheCurtis National Hand Center and R. Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center. During that time, he also was one of the team physicians for football’s BaltimoreRavens and baseball’s Washington Nationals. “That was a challenging time,” he said. “The hours were long. I had a lot of 30-plus hour shifts … Getting through

56 FEBRUARY 2023 PEORIA MAGAZINE