Syna Daudfar, OMS III
Syna Daudfar is currently a third year medical student at Western University of Health Sciences College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific—Northwest. He is an Iranian immigrant who moved to Arizona in 1995. Many years later, he graduated from the University of Arizona in a research intensive undergraduate program in Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics. He began his research experience working with the Department of Surgery where he focused on developing the standardized operating procedures for the allo-transplantation of islet cells in patients with chronic pancreatitis. His research shifted to working with the Department of Pharmacology to better understanding chronic pain, specifically the role pain plays in the mesolimbic pathway associated with reward. He completed his thesis on the Neural Circuitry of Kappa- and Mu- Opioid Receptors in Response to Chronic Pain in 2013.
After receiving his Bachelor of Science degree in 2013, Syna worked with Northwest Tucson Emergency Physicians followed by one year with Agave Surgical Associates in Chandler, Arizona as a medical scribe. Since matriculation in 2016, he has spent a large portion of his time at COMP-NW developing clinical research opportunities for his peers and for future classes of medical students. He has also been a leader in the Class of 2020 as a student representative of the curriculum committee. He is currently focused on developing the character traits and knowledge necessary to be a thoughtful, skilled, and safe practitioner. His career interests are otolaryngology, general surgery, and emergency medicine. The inspiration of the clinicians at COMP-NW, specifically Drs. Robyn Dreibelbis, Derrick Sorweide, and John T. Pham, and coastal clinicians at Samaritan Health Systems, specifically Drs. Alexa LaFaunce, Arun Raman, and Stephen Hale, have made him fall in love with rural health.
Syna currently lives in Albany, Oregon with his fiancee, Mackenzie, and their dog, Wrigley. He loves playing racquetball, piano, and violin during the rainy winter and exploring the great pacific northwest otherwise.
