Congratulations to the second round of FIENS Bassett Fellows for 2023. The four new fellows are Dr. Seare Halefom Kahsay, Dr. Heba Medhat Maghraby, Dr. Yunus Kuntawi Aji, and Dr. Samaila Timothy. As the second round of 2023 Bassett Fellowship awardees, they will receive funds to cover traveling and living expenses for a three-month period to be spent observing the activities of a neurosurgical service that has an established relationship with FIENS. It is the intention of FIENS that these scholars will one day act as future sites of service for FIENS.
Ethiopia → Arizona
Dr. Seare Halefom Kahsay completed his neurosurgical residency training in December 2022 at Addis Ababa University, College of Health Sciences Department of Surgery. He is currently working as a Neurosurgeon at Worabe Comprehensive Specialized Hospital in Southern Ethiopia. Dr. Kahsay will travel from Ethiopia to Prescott, Arizona, USA to complete his fellowship at Common Spirit Yapavai Medical Center under Dr. Sam Safavi-Abbasi. The purpose of his fellowship is to increase his knowledge of spine and skull base surgery. Dr. Kahsay shared that he hopes to gain nuanced skills from the fellowship which he can use to enhance the treatment of his patients in Ethiopia.
Indonesia → Japan
Dr. Yunus Kuntawi Aji will travel from the National Brain Center Hospital in Jakarta, Indonesia where he is a junior faculty of the neurological spine division, to Tokyo, Japan to complete his fellowship at the Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine Department of Neurosurgery under host, Dr. Yukoh Ohara. Dr. Kuntawi Aji completed his neurosurgery residency program from Faculty of Medicine Universitas Airlangga in 2021 and has been practicing spine surgery for 2 years at the National Brain Hospital. The purpose of Dr. Kuntawi Aji’s fellowship is to increase his research and surgical experience in spine surgery.
Nigeria → Wisconsin
Dr. Samaila Timothy is a consultant neurosurgeon at the Federal Medical Center in Abuja, Nigeria and will travel to Madison, Wisconsin, USA for fellowship at the School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Wisconsin-Madison under the guidance of host, Dr. Mustafa Baskaya. Dr. Timothy’s intention for the fellowship is to acquire more knowledge and skills in skull base surgery, neuro-oncology, microvascular neurosurgery and Minimally invasive Spine surgery. He shared that he has observed an increase in the number and variety of cases in Nigeria and noted that the demand for neurosurgical support is surging. He believes that with the opportunity to advance his microneurosurgery skills, he will be able to fill a gap necessary to address a large pool of patients that currently exists. Lastly, he hopes that he can share the knowledge he gains during his fellowship with the students that he tutors in his home country.
Egypt → Wisconsin
Dr. Heba Medhat Maghraby is a consultant neurosurgeon and lecturer at the University of Cairo, School of Medicine, in Egypt. She will travel from Egypt to Madison, Wisconsin, USA to complete her fellowship under the guidance of host, Dr. Amgad Hanna at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, School of Medicine and Public Health. The purpose of Dr. Maghraby’s fellowship will be to increase her knowledge of surgery of the peripheral nervous system. She will have opportunities to observe in the clinic and operating room and will also have hands-on experience learning microneurosurgical techniques in the cadaveric lab. She hopes that the fellowship will allow her to help her patients receive the best and the appropriate care they deserve in Egypt.
We look forward to sharing updates on the progress of these ambitious neurosurgeons who will change the lives of many in Nigeria, Egypt, Ethiopia and Indonesia and inspire and guide other practitioners to pursue neurosurgical education pathways. These scholars will be our future FIENS sites of service.
