Tiam Mana Saffari

276 APPENDICES CURRICULUM VITAE TiamMana Saffari was born on May 3 rd 1992 in Capelle aan den IJssel, the Netherlands. During high school, she was selected for the Junior Medical School (JMS) program at the Erasmus Medical University. JMS is a scientific pre-university program for ambitious high school students and allows for entering Medical School upon completion. As a 16-year-old student, she observed her first case in the operation room which was a trauma case of the hand from a circular saw table (Dr. E.T. Walbeehm). This case sparked her first interest in peripheral nerve and hand surgery. She completed JMS with a thesis on “Peripheral nerve injury in cold-intolerant rats” (Dr. L. Duraku and Dr. E.T. Walbeehm). After graduating from Erasmiaans Gymnasium (Rotterdam) in 2010, she started Medical School at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam. Her special interest in reconstructive surgery did not fade away and was further fueled during her elective Minor course on “Reconstruction from Head to Hands: A Multidisciplinary View” during her third year. Mana was motivated to apply for a research master and commenced the Neuroscience Master simultaneous to the Master of Medicine. During the Neuroscience Master, she conducted research on “Nerve reinnervation and itch behavior in a rat burn wound model” which resulted in her first scientific paper (Dr. B.N. Schüttenhelm, Dr. J.C. Holstege). After graduating from Medical School and Neuroscience in 2018, Mana was granted the opportunity to perform research at the Mayo Clinic (Rochester, MN, USA) under supervision of Prof. A.Y. Shin and Prof. A.T. Bishop as part of her PhD. She focused on the role of angiogenesis and adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells in enhancing nerve allograft outcomes. The Mayo Clinic has awarded her with the Jowsey Research Fellow Award for the research contributions in basic science nerve research, in particular the project on “Revascularization patterns of nerve allografts in a rat sciatic nerve defect model”. During her research fellowship, the laboratory also commenced a collaboration with Dr. G.H. Borschel to investigate the combined local delivery of stem cells and tacrolimus (FK506) to nerve. She presented her work at international conferences, supervised several students and is a member of the Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (PRS) Resident Advisory Board.