Borgess welcomes two health care providers

Kathy Jennings | Thursday, October 16, 2014

James R. Jastifer, MD

Samer Kanaan, MD Surgery

Two surgeons have joined Borgess Health.

James R. Jastifer, MD, has joined the staff of Borgess Orthopedics, part of the Borgess Bone & Joint Institute, as an orthopedic surgeon.

Dr. Jastifer specializes in ankle replacement, and recently completed an Idaho Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Fellowship at the Coughlin Clinic in Boise, Idaho. In 2013, he completed his residency at the Michigan State University/Kalamazoo Center for Medical Studies (now the Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine).

Dr. Jastifer received his medical degree from the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine in East Lansing. He earned a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering from Michigan Technological University in Houghton.

Dr. Jastifer has taught orthopaedic biomechanics in the Department of Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering at Western Michigan University and currently serves as an adjunct professor in the department. Dr. Jastifer is a publisher and co-publisher of numerous recent medical articles. Borgess Orthopedics is located at 2490 S. 11th Street in Kalamazoo.

Samer A. Kanaan, MD, has joined Borgess Cardiothoracic Surgery as a thoracic surgeon.

Dr. Kanaan is an award-winning surgeon who for four consecutive years has been given the America’s Top Surgeons Award in Thoracic Surgery from the Consumers Research Council of America. He also was named the 2012 Top Doctors in America in Thoracic Surgery by U.S. News and World Report.

Dr. Kanaan comes to Borgess from Queen of the Valley Medical Associates in Napa, Calif., where in 2011 he held the position of chairman of the Department of Surgery at Queen of the Valley Medical Center.

He is a former associate surgeon and Minimally Invasive Thoracic Surgery Fellow in the Division of Thoracic Surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. He also completed a fellowship in cardiothoracic surgery at the University of Southern California. In addition, he was a research fellow in the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Department of Surgery, at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Dr. Kanaan completed his residency in general surgery from Northwestern University’s McGaw Medical Center in Chicago. He earned his medical degree from Northwestern University Medical School in Evanston, Ill., and also received a bachelor’s degree in physics from Northwestern University. Dr. Kanaan is board certified with the American Board of Surgery and with the American Board of Thoracic Surgery.

Both are accepting new patients.

Source: Michael Smith, Borgess