Dr. Paul Siffri ’92, an orthopedic surgeon with Prisma Health, demonstrates arthroscopy techniques for Furman University students at 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 one hand and a motorized shaver in the other, offering the medical instruments to a group of eight surgical gown-clad Furman University undergraduates.
The group, part of the university’s Healthcare Today Engaged Learning Community, traveled in November to the Hawkins Foundation Bioskills Lab in Greenville, South Carolina to learn the basics of a minimally invasive orthopedic procedure. The twist was Siffri was offering the chance for these undergraduate students to practice on an actual, 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 instruments at the Hawkins Foundation Bioskills Lab. Photo by Nathan Gray, Furman University.
Biology major Amelia Cowart ’27 was among the first students to brave interacting with the knee. She had shadowed other medical professionals, but this was the first opportunity she had to get any hands-on experience.
“That’s a unique experience not many other universities offer to undergrads,” she said.
It was a shock at first to manipulate the pinhead-sized camera as she slipped it past the patella and used her other hand to remove tissue damaged by arthritis.
“I’m doing something successfully that surgeons do in their everyday lives,” she said. “That was absolutely exciting.”
Cowart is the president of HOSA-Future Health Professionals at Furman, and fast-tracked early acceptance to medical school through the Furman University-University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville Direct Entry Program. For her, the engaged learning program reaffirmed her passion for medicine and gave her the experience to be confident about her career goals.
“Meeting doctors and hearing about their lives, and their work, has been comforting,” she said. “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 perform arthroscopy techniques in a lab as part of the Healthcare Today Engaged Learning program. Photo by Nathan Gray, Furman University
First-year students at Furman have the option to immerse themselves in interdisciplinary topics, connecting with faculty, staff, alumni and community partners along their academic paths.
Learning Communities are part of how makes the first-year experience special. The Healthcare Today program enrolls students in a First-Year Writing seminar course focusing on a medical topic, where they engage with classmates who share an interest in medicine. Beyond the classroom, students get real-world perspective from local healthcare professionals at community partners like Prisma Health System.
Programs like this are how Furman students had a 100% acceptance rate into medical school in the 2024-2025 academic year.
“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,” said T.J. Banisaukas, director of pre-professional advising and chief health careers advisor.
Mentorship and Professional Perspective
Siffri was impressed by how enthusiastic the Healthcare Today students were as they each took a turn practicing with each of the instruments commonly used in arthroscopic surgeries. That fearlessness and curiosity will serve them well in any field, but he said it’s especially useful in the competitive environment of medical school.
Hunter Kuhnell ’29, a Furman student in the Healthcare Today Engaged Learning Program, practices arthroscopy techniques with supervision by Dr. Paul Siffri ’92. Photo by Nathan Gray, Furman University.
“You have to love what you do,” he told 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 asked him about techniques for avoiding burnout and the differences between working for a hospital system and starting a private medical practice. He spoke with them about their own backgrounds and inspirations for studying medicine. He studied biology himself at Furman before attending the Medical University of South Carolina.
“This is my way of paying back the foundation I got at Furman,” he said. He felt proud seeing his alma mater put so much effort into helping students connect with professionals and explore careers in the medical field.
“It was inspiring to see an alumnus so successful and loving his career,” said Avery Columbus ’29, a health science and Spanish major 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.”