"Right now I am doing my residency in orthopedic research"
About this Quote
The context matters because Thomas was never just any athlete. As a Black woman excelling in a sport coded as expensive, white, and aesthetic, she carried a public gaze that constantly tried to pin her down - as prodigy, as anomaly, as story. Pivoting to orthopedic research reads like both continuity and escape. It’s continuity because orthopedics is literally the science of what sport takes from a body and what medicine can give back. It’s escape because it shifts her from being watched to doing the watching: from performance to expertise.
The subtext is also a gentle flex. Residency is not a hobby; it’s institutional proof of competence. By naming the credential in plain language, she claims authority without begging for permission. The intent feels less like reinvention than reclamation: the insistence that a person can outgrow the role the public most enjoyed consuming.
Quote Details
| Topic | Doctor |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Thomas, Debi. (2026, January 17). Right now I am doing my residency in orthopedic research. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/right-now-i-am-doing-my-residency-in-orthopedic-54982/
Chicago Style
Thomas, Debi. "Right now I am doing my residency in orthopedic research." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/right-now-i-am-doing-my-residency-in-orthopedic-54982/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"Right now I am doing my residency in orthopedic research." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/right-now-i-am-doing-my-residency-in-orthopedic-54982/. Accessed 17 Feb. 2026.



