What drives me, simply, is the creative process: sculpting beautiful, meaningful things is a particularly persistent passion. “Beautiful, meaningful things” is intentionally broad. Sculpting a physical body (that’s the athletic trainer in me), generating a movement or physical performance (that’s the athlete in me), creating a scientific idea-turned-manuscript (that’s the scientist in me), or charting a patient’s journey from injury to health (that’s the doctor in me); these are all beautiful, meaningful processes I enjoy. Visualizing something that could be, then actively moving towards that vision constitutes a creative process, be it athletic or scientific. Nota bene: I love and use the term “sculpt” because it challenges us to envision and then find/discover some incredible potential in a thing rather than simply discard it.
Rosa Serra, Artist
If this all sounds a tad confusing and esoteric, don’t fret, here’s the formal bio: I am a Board-Certified Physiatrist at Harvard Medical School. After Yale College I attended Harvard Medical School. I completed my Master’s in Public Health at Johns Hopkins prior to residency in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of Maryland/Sinai Hospital of Baltimore. I completed sub-specialty training in Interventional Spine and Sports Medicine at the Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan, New York. The same year, I became Board-Certified in Integrative Holistic Medicine, in addition.
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The first Ghanaian national elected to the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), I sit on the IPC medical committee (a great honor and joy). A track and field athlete, I competed in the women’s long jump representing the Federal Republic of Ghana until 2012. I would like to compete this year too (a great honor and joy), pending my ability to achieve appropriate training, rest and recovery. As a Physical Medicine physician, I treat patients with common orthopedic conditions such as low back pain. My goal is to combine my clinical and athletic work to empower lay persons and vulnerable groups (including girls and persons with disabilities) through sports. I have spoken to diverse audiences about rest, nutrition, common sports injuries, adapted sports and how to prevent and/or rehabilitate from injuries using a comprehensive approach. As a clinician-scientist supported by the Nationals Institutes of Health, my research focuses on the determinants of exercise adherence in community-dwelling adults both in the U.S. and West Africa. In a nutshell, my research asks two primarily public health questions, “What makes people move? How can we make people move more and move smart?”
In the end, all roads lead to sports. My clinical, athletic and scientific work pivot around and are fueled by sport, a powerful agent of change in the world. The late, great Nelson Mandela said it best at the 2000 Laureus World Sports Awards (Monaco):
Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire, it has the power to unite people in a way that little else does. It speaks to youth in a language they understand. Sport can create hope, where once there was only despair. It is more powerful than governments in breaking down racial barriers. It laughs in the face of all types of discrimination…
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