Dr. Paul Siffri ’92, an orthopedic surgeon with Prisma Health, demonstrates arthroscopy methods for Furman University college students on the Hawkins Foundation Bioskills Lab in Greenville, South Carolina. Photo by Nathan Gray, Furman University.
“Who wants to go first?”
Dr. Paul Siffri ’92, an orthopedic surgeon with Prisma Health, held an arthroscope in a single hand and a motorized shaver within the different, providing the medical devices to a bunch of eight surgical gown-clad Furman University undergraduates.
The group, a part of the college’s Healthcare Today Engaged Learning Community, traveled in November to the Hawkins Foundation Bioskills Lab in Greenville, South Carolina to study the fundamentals of a minimally invasive orthopedic process. The twist was Siffri was providing the possibility for these undergraduate college students to follow on an precise, cadaveric knee.
Engaged Learning Leaves an Impression
From left, Avery Columbus ’29, Hunter Kuhnell ’29, Danielle Buccini ’29 and Anna Kate Bailey ’29 watch as Dr. Paul Siffri ’92 demonstrates arthroscopy devices on the Hawkins Foundation Bioskills Lab. Photo by Nathan Gray, Furman University.
Biology main Amelia Cowart ’27 was among the many first college students to courageous interacting with the knee. She had shadowed different medical professionals, however this was the primary alternative she needed to get any hands-on experience.
“That’s a unique experience not many other universities offer to undergrads,” she mentioned.
It was a shock at first to control the pinhead-sized digital camera as she slipped it previous the patella and used her different hand to take away tissue broken by arthritis.
“I’m doing something successfully that surgeons do in their everyday lives,” she mentioned. “That was absolutely exciting.”
Cowart is the president of HOSA-Future Health Professionals at Furman, and fast-tracked early acceptance to medical faculty through the Furman University-University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville Direct Entry Program. For her, the engaged learning program reaffirmed her ardour for medication and gave her the experience to be assured about her profession targets.
“Meeting doctors and hearing about their lives, and their work, has been comforting,” she mentioned. “If they’re out there doing this, we can do it too.”
Healthcare Today Engaged Learning Program
Paul Siffri ’92 helps Anna Kate Bailey ’29 carry out arthroscopy methods in a lab as a part of the Healthcare Today Engaged Learning program. Photo by Nathan Gray, Furman University
First-year college students at Furman have the choice to immerse themselves in interdisciplinary subjects, connecting with school, employees, alumni and neighborhood companions alongside their tutorial paths.
Learning Communities are a part of how makes the first-year experience particular. The Healthcare Today program enrolls college students in a First-Year Writing seminar course specializing in a medical matter, the place they interact with classmates who share an curiosity in medication. Beyond the classroom, college students get real-world perspective from native healthcare professionals at neighborhood companions like Prisma Health System.
Programs like this are how Furman college students had a 100% acceptance charge into medical faculty within the 2024-2025 tutorial yr.
“This program is designed to expose them to a breadth of healthcare fields, but no matter what type of medicine you go into the competencies and skill often overlap,” mentioned T.J. Banisaukas, director of pre-professional advising and chief well being careers advisor.
Mentorship and Professional Perspective
Siffri was impressed by how enthusiastic the Healthcare Today college students have been as they every took a flip training with every of the devices generally utilized in arthroscopic surgical procedures. That fearlessness and curiosity will serve them properly in any discipline, however he mentioned it’s particularly helpful within the aggressive setting of medical faculty.
Hunter Kuhnell ’29, a Furman pupil within the Healthcare Today Engaged Learning Program, practices arthroscopy methods with supervision by Dr. Paul Siffri ’92. Photo by Nathan Gray, Furman University.
“You have to love what you do,” he advised them. “When I’m interviewing you, I want to know if you can take care of my patients, and I care about your enthusiasm and integrity.”
Students requested him about methods for avoiding burnout and the variations between working for a hospital system and beginning a personal medical follow. He spoke with them about their very own backgrounds and inspirations for finding out medication. He studied biology himself at Furman earlier than attending the Medical University of South Carolina.
“This is my way of paying back the foundation I got at Furman,” he mentioned. He felt proud seeing his alma mater put a lot effort into serving to college students join with professionals and discover careers within the medical discipline.
“It was inspiring to see an alumnus so successful and loving his career,” mentioned Avery Columbus ’29, a well being science and Spanish main from Boston. “It was nothing like what I’d ever expect to do coming in as a first-year undergraduate student, and it’s a reminder that even though our courses might be rigorous, people do make it and it’s a rewarding track to be on.”
