Congratulations to the four new Bassett Fellows: Dr. Jo Ee Sam, Dr. Samuel Gana, Dr. Joel Fernando Sanabria Duarte, and Dr. Huy Minh Tran. As the 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.
Malaysia → Japan
Dr. Jo Ee Sam is a Neurosurgeon at the University of Science, Malaysia. He completed his Doctor of Medicine and Master of Science at the University of Science in Malaysia where he specialized in neurosurgery and neuroscience. Dr. Sam will travel from Malaysia to Japan to complete his fellowship under Professor Yoko Kato of Fujita Health University Batane Hospital. The purpose of his fellowship is to increase his skills in bypass surgery, carotid endarterectomy, and complex AVM surgery since his country has a deficit of neurosurgeons who can address these neurosurgical needs. He noted that many patients with complex vascular pathologies are left waiting and suffering and many succumb to these conditions while waiting for treatment. Dr. Sam also hopes to teach future generations of neurosurgeons so that many more can benefit from his educational pathways.
Nigeria → Wisconsin
Dr. Samuel Gana will travel from his practicing hospital, Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital in Zaria, Nigeria to the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health where Dr. Baskaya will be his fellowship host. The purpose of his fellowship is to gain an overview of Cerebrovascular and Skull base surgery, a subspecialty of particular interest to him. In the near future, he intends to undertake a full fellowship in this subspecialty, in order to benefit the teeming number of patients in need of this care at home in Nigeria.
Paraguay → Toronto
Dr. Joel Fernando Sanabria Duarte is currently undertaking a Functional Neurosurgery Fellowship at the Neurological Institute of Curitiba, Brazil. He finished his neurosurgical training last year with the support of a scholarship granted by the World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies. Dr. Sanabria Duarate will be hosted by Dr. Suneil Kalia, a doctor that he greatly admires, at the Toronto Western Hospital. He is very interested in the field of functional neurosurgery, especially in research on Parkinson’s Disease.
Vietnam → Ohio State
Dr. Huy Minh Tran will travel from Vietnam to Ohio State University, Wexler Medical Center in Columbus, Ohio for his fellowship. He will be hosted by Dr. Daniel Prevedello. Dr. Tran is an attending neurosurgeon at Cho Ray Hospital in Southern Vietnam, with an exceptionally high volume of adult and pediatric patients. The purpose of Dr. Tran’s fellowship is to bolster his clinical and academic skills that can then be applied upon returning to Cho Ray Hospital after completion of the fellowship. Some of his specific goals for the fellowship are to learn more about endoscopic surgery including skull base anatomy, the extended EEA, skull base reconstruction, and how to build a skull base surgery program within the constraints of limited resources in Vietnam. He looks forward to bringing his new skills home to share with other residents and medical students in order to increase neurosurgical capacity in his home country.
We look forward to sharing updates on the progress of these ambitious neurosurgeons who will change the lives of many in Malaysia, Nigeria, Vietnam, and Paraguay and inspire other practitioners to pursue neurosurgical education pathways. The scholars will be our future FIENS sites of service.
