Awards & Recognition

FIU medical student earns prestigious otolaryngology research fellowship

Third-year FIU medical student Hani Samarah has been selected for a prestigious year-long Otolaryngology Research Fellowship at Thomas Jefferson University.

The fellowship is an invaluable opportunity for a future ENT doctor, allowing Samarah to conduct research, coordinate clinical trials, and gain hands-on experience rotating on the otolaryngology service. He sees it as a “bridge” towards realizing his dream of becoming an academic otolaryngologist.

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Samarah’s journey toward otolaryngology has been deeply influenced by personal experiences within his family, which highlighted the critical role of medical research in patient care. Inspired by the head and neck surgeons caring for his family, Samarah recognized the specialty’s potential to address diverse medical conditions.

For the next year, he’ll be working under the mentorship of Jefferson researchers Dr. Adam Luginbuhl and Dr. Joseph Curry.  Then, he’ll return to the Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine to complete his M.D. degree. After graduation, he aims to specialize in head and neck surgical oncology and microvascular reconstruction.