Swanson Award winner completes study visit to FOCOS
Dr. Sariah Khormaee, a Swanson Travelling Fellowship Award winner has completed her one week study visit to the FOCOS Orthopedic Hospital.
As Post-Graduate Year five orthopedic surgery resident from Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) in New York, her goal was to gain better insights into the clinical and practical expertise of FOCOS Orthopedic Hospital in providing care to children with highly complex spinal deformities who otherwise would have limited access to care.
During her visit she has been impressed with the compassion and efficiency with which patients are treated at FOCOS hospital. With careful attention to the medical and surgical complexity of the cases, each patient has a customized care plan that looks after their pre-op, intra-op and post-op needs. Especially inspiring is the commitment that runs deep within every FOCOS staff member to go above and beyond for each patient.
Dr. Khormaee received her undergraduate degree from the University of Washington. Subsequently, she completed a PhD in Chemical Engineering at the University of Cambridge, UK and her MD at Harvard Medical School through the Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology program. She developed an interest in spine during her residency at HSS and after her graduation this June will continue to do a Spine Fellowship at Stanford University. In her career, she has a strong interest in extending the availability of spine care to low resource regions through innovative resource deployment, especially implant availability.
Her visit is funded by the Swanson Travelling Fellowship Award at HSS. This scholarship is given to an outstanding resident at HSS interested in spine surgery with a demonstrated commitment to providing compassionate medical care. Andrew Swanson was an HSS Class of 2005 resident, spine surgeon and active climber who passed away in 2009 while scaling Mount McKinley. He was dedicated to serving others and was a prior volunteer with FOCOS throughout his residency.