People news: Upstate Medical University makes staff appointments

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Upstate Medical University announced the following recent staff appointments.

Palma Cassano has been named business manager for perioperative services and the Family Birth Center at Upstate’s Community Campus on Onondaga Hill. She holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting and an MBA from Le Moyne College. Prior to joining Upstate Medical, Cassano worked at Syracuse University as a budget analyst and business manager, privacy officer, and chair of the Quality Improvement Committee for Syracuse University Student Health Services.

Sara Fisher has been named pediatric trauma program coordinator. An Upstate Medical employee since 2003, Fisher has extensive experience in pediatrics. She received her bachelor’s degree in nursing from Syracuse University in 2003 and her master’s degree in nursing from Upstate Medical University in 2009.

Simone Seward has been named director of Upstate’s Center for Civic Engagement (CCE) in the Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine. She most recently was assistant director for the Central New York Master of Public Health Program, where she developed numerous community partnerships. The CCE is involved in coordinating both local and global volunteer, service learning, and inter-professional community-based opportunities for students in all colleges.

Stacey Todd has joined the Campus Environmental Service Department as operations manager. She previously worked for 10 years with the Hertz Corporation. Todd received a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University at Buffalo.

Robert Swan, M.D., has been named assistant professor of ophthalmology, with clinical specialty in pediatric and adult uveitis/ocular inflammatory disease. He also serves as the quality officer for the Department of Ophthalmology. Prior to joining Upstate Medical, Swan was an attending ophthalmologist at Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital in Cooperstown. Swan received his medical degree from Upstate Medical University in 2008. He completed his internship at Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital in 2009; an ophthalmology residency at Albany Medical Center in 2012; and a clinical uveitis fellowship with C. Stephen Foster, M.D., at Massachusetts Eye Research and Surgery Institute in 2015.

Muhammad Osman Arif, M.D., has been named assistant professor of medicine at Upstate Medical, with clinical specialty in general gastroenterology and hepatology and biliary and pancreatic diseases. He is the author of articles and published abstracts related to his medical specialty. Arif received his bachelor’s degree in medicine and his bachelor’s degree in surgery from Aga Khan University in Karachi, Pakistan (2008). His post-graduate education includes a clinical-research assistantship with the Cardiac Imaging Research Group at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston (2009). He completed a residency in internal medicine (2012) and a fellowship in gastroenterology (2015) at Upstate Medical University.

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