By Javia Headley, Marketing Communicatins Manager
“What does the future of the House Institute look like? It’s the human factor. It’s generations of surgeons who have gone out and trained other surgeons. It is the work we have been doing in education that will change our field for tomorrow. That is the future.”
– Dan Roberts, MD, PHD, Previous House Institute Fellow
With a wide variety of professional education initiatives and a team of knowledgeable practitioners, the House Institute Foundation is uniquely positioned to achieve our goal of disseminating hearing loss and neurosurgical solutions globally. House physicians and audiologists share their knowledge with otolaryngologists, neurosurgeons, and hearing health specialists from all over the world. To date, we have educated over 40,000 professionals through various programs—our two-year neurotology/lateral skull base clinical fellowship, a biannual temporal bone drilling course, a visiting physicians’ program, and a digital platform designed to provide lectures and didactic surgical videos for the physician-in-training.
Fellow Spotlight – Robin Bigelow
Robin Bigelow, MD is a first-year fellow at the House Institute. He is from Upstate New York and attended Cornell University, where he worked with a nonprofit in rural Honduras to improve chronic disease management programs. Dr. Bigelow went on to medical school and then a residency at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, where he researched age-related vestibular decline and vestibular impacts on cognition while also exploring the psychological effects of age-related hearing loss. This past summer, Dr. Bigelow moved to Los Angeles with his wife and two young children to continue training at the House Institute. “I am excited about learning from the great wealth of clinical experience at House. Specifically, I am interested in expanding my lateral skull base surgical expertise. I am also looking forward to working on research projects related to the middle cranial fossa approach to the lateral skull base and the management of Ménière’s disease.”
Temporal Bone Course Spotlight – Amanda Bastien
Amanda Bastien who hails from Corona Del Mar, California, is an intern at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Bastien participated in our two-day Temporal Bone Dissection Course in early October. “My experience at the bone course was one of the best learning opportunities I’ve had so far in medicine. It’s hands on. It is confidence boosting and career changing. I am leaving the House Institute Temporal Bone Drilling Course with confidence back to my hospital to change lives and allow people to start hearing again.”
International Physician Spotlight – Nika Nikanjam
Nika Nikanjam, MD is an otolaryngologist with a subspecialty in otologic surgeries. She graduated from Teheran University of Medical Sciences in Teheran, Iran. After visiting the United States for several years to grow her knowledge in her specialty, Dr. Nikanjam is looking forward to returning to Iran and utilizing her newfound abilities and proficiencies. “I want to thank the House Institute for this wonderful opportunity. It has been my dream for a long time to be tutored and mentored under such brilliant surgeons. I am excited to go back to my home country and to serve my people and my patients in a better way with the knowledge I’ve gained here.”
Our programs are made possible by your generosity. You can help educate a physician on advanced techniques in ear and neuroscience by supporting our education efforts. Invest today.