At the beginning of the historically snowy Boston 2015 winter, I took a ski trip to the Green Mountains with some friends. On the morning of our first day, I lost control and, while tumbling to a halt, I heard two pops: One was my right ski-binding opening and the other was my left anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) rupturing.

As a doctoral student at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, I found myself exploring treatment options, even before I got the MRI scan to confirm the ACL tear.

I was particularly troubled to hear about the high risk of early-onset osteoarthritis in the injured knee with the current standard surgery.

After following the research, I was encouraged to learn Dr. Martha Murray and her team at Boston Children’s Hospital Sports Medicine had just started recruiting for a first-in-humans safety trial testing a promising new ACL-repair method.

I called Dr. Murray’s research coordinator and sent my MRI results to find out if I was eligible to participate in the trial. Within a few hours, they returned my call. I was eager to learn more. …