A medical student from Bensonhurst who has become a strong advocate for making the health care industry more patient-oriented has been awarded a scholarship from a spinal surgery center.
Helen Pozdniakova is working toward a Doctor of Medicine degree at Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine and was selected by the Laser Spine Institute to receive a $1,500 scholarship to help with her the cost of her education.
The scholarship is awarded to a full-time undergraduate or graduate student who is interested in pursuing a career in health care.
Pozdniakova is a graduate of Midwood High School and graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in cell and molecular biology from Binghamton University.
Despite her busy medical school schedule, she finds time to work as a medical scribe, a job that entails charting the progress of patients in real-time, in two clinics in Manhattan.
Prior to medical school, Pozdniakova did a great deal of volunteer work in Kings County Hospital, where she served in the hospital’s general surgery clinic, welcoming patients and assessing their needs.
She was also a volunteer nurse’s assistant in the post-ambulatory surgical unit at Coney Island Hospital, working with patients before and after their procedures.
Pozdniakova was selected by the Laser Spine Institute’s scholarship committee “based on both her proven passion and dedication to health care, as well as her strong essay submission outlining her innovative, patient-centered ideas for industry improvement,” a statement from the institute reads.
The Laser Spine Institute is headquartered in Tampa, Florida and operates surgery centers in Tampa, Scottsdale, Arizona, Philadelphia, Oklahoma City, Cleveland, St. Louis and Cincinnati.
To date, the institute has performed nearly 100,000 procedures on patients suffering from neck and back pain caused by spinal stenosis, degenerative disc disease, pinched nerves, bone spurs, herniated discs, sciatica and other chronic ailments.
