I like how my day is organized here—surgery, research, and teaching. I really enjoy being with the students, interns, and residents. They are always so positive and hungry for knowledge. They can ask me everything, so I must be prepared for everything. Every time we are together, it’s a way to teach them something and to learn something from them.
Benvenuta Dr. Ida Forzisi
Hailing from Sicily, Dr. Forzisi is the newest addition to the Surgery Team at Foster Hospital
Dr. Ida Forzisi’s (she/her) career path was set on a childhood playdate in her hometown of Cefalù, a village on the northern coast of Sicily. Not long after she first started talking, she told her parents she wanted to be a veterinarian. She settled on her specialty in elementary school when a friend took her along to her father’s veterinary clinic. Forzisi watched him perform surgery on a dog.
“I saw the open abdomen and said, ‘This is what I’m going to do for the rest of my life. I want to be a veterinary surgeon,’” she recalls.
Her determination never wavered. She describes her graduation day from veterinary school as the best day of her life. “When they said ‘Dr. Forzisi,’ I cried because I was so happy.”
In December, Forzisi joined the Surgery Team at Henry and Lois Hospital for Small Animals (FHSA) as an assistant professor in the Department of Clinical Sciences at Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University. She was actually part of the team previously, on a fellowship cut short by the pandemic.
“I like surgery in general because I like to fix something that is not working, and I like orthopedic surgery because it’s so variable,” she says. “You have to follow the rules, but sometimes you have to go outside of those rules and think out of the box.”
While earning her Laurea in Medicina Veterinaria at the University of Messina in Sicily, Forzisi initially planned to specialize in equine surgery. During an internship at the veterinary clinic of her professor, Dr. Nicola Maria Iannelli, she changed course to small animal surgery.
A Labrador patient at the clinic left a lasting impression on Forzisi. The puppy had fractured his pelvis. The bone had healed improperly, and the new bone formation had occluded the urethra, so he could not urinate.
“My colleagues and I read every type of paper and book to try to help him,” says Forzisi. “In the end, we saw on the CT scan and blood tests that it was too late for his kidneys. The situation was so bad that the owner decided to euthanize the dog. The case helped me recognize that I’d like to work especially with puppies and that I’m interested in orthopedic diseases.”
After graduation, Forzisi interned at Clinica Veterinaria Vezzoni in Cremona, Italy. Dr. Aldo Vezzoni is one of the pioneers in the early diagnosis of skeletal disorders in puppies. He and his son, Dr. Luca Vezzoni, would become mentors to Forzisi over the next few years.
“I was already fascinated by surgery and orthopedics, but looking at the passion, professionalism, and outcome of the surgeries performed by Drs. Aldo and Luca Vezzoni pushed me to want to reach those levels, to want to be as good and prepared as them,” she says.
After the internship, Forzisi was awarded an AO Trauma Fellowship in orthopedic surgery at Cummings School under the mentorship of Dr. Michael Kowaleski, V93, professor in the Department of Clinical Sciences on the Surgery Team at FHSA. Unfortunately, the pandemic hit soon after she arrived, abruptly ending her fellowship.
During her one month of fellowship at Cummings School, Forzisi soaked up the experience of working in a university hospital, learning from the many clinicians, and handling a high caseload. “It was a very beautiful month and very productive for me, I learned a lot,” she says.
Pivoting from her abbreviated fellowship, Forzisi returned to Italy and started up a dual-site surgical residency back at the Clinica Veterinaria Vezzoni and at a veterinary clinic in Milan. She divided her time between treating patients, training interns, and immersing herself in research. She contributed to a number of research projects with the Vezzonis, including a long-term study on hemiepiphysiodesis, a surgery to address distal femoral valgus (a deformity of the lower thigh bone) in puppies, and co-authored the published paper. She also researched and co-authored a paper on hip replacement in puppies and studied the effectiveness of an anti-bacterial solution for surgical wounds with the Vezzonis.
During her residency, Forzisi additionally taught anatomy as a professor at a veterinary technician university in Cremona. “Technicians are always curious and want to do the best for patients. It was an amazing experience. I discovered with them that I like to teach,” she says.
Last winter, Forzisi sat down at her computer to begin exploring options after residency. She started by typing “Tufts University” into the search bar. An open position in the surgical service at FHSA popped up at the top of the results.
“I thought maybe this was a sign—the first link I see is the job of my dreams,” she says. “In my mind, there was just Tufts University; this is the job that I want. At Tufts [Cummings School], I have all the possibilities to research and work with the faculty at Cummings School. Tufts [Cummings School] is very famous and very prestigious in Europe. It’s a dream come true for me.”
Though she started just a few weeks ago, Forzisi feels like she’s home again at Cummings School and appreciates the kindness she’s received from the clinicians and staff at FHSA.
“I like how my day is organized here—surgery, research, and teaching,” says Forzisi. “I really enjoy being with the students, interns, and residents. They are always so positive and hungry for knowledge. They can ask me everything, so I must be prepared for everything. Every time we are together, it’s a way to teach them something and to learn something from them.”
Forzisi plans to continue researching, focusing on early diagnosis of orthopedic diseases in puppies and preventative orthopedic surgeries. She has ideas in mind, and she’s looking forward to discussing them with her colleagues. “I feel lucky because I have their support for my professional growth. I’m still learning, and I can learn from people like Dr. Kowaleski and other surgeons in the department.”
In her free time, Forzisi loves to cook, get out into nature, and visit new cities—she’s already enamored with Cambridge. Once the weather warms up, Maine is next on her list. “Boston is in a strategic position because you can go to every type of place—if you prefer a beach you can have the sea, if it’s mountains, in two hours you are in the mountains.”
Though she has come a long way from Cefalù to Grafton, Forzisi’s passion for helping animals is just as strong as when she was a young girl watching her first surgery.
“It’s very beautiful to see a dog come in limping and then after surgery see them playing with their owner.”
Department:
Dept. of Clinical Sciences