Spotlight on Douglas Hassan, MD

Dr. Douglas Hassan has a deep belief in helping people which guided him on his journey into orthopedics and he quickly learned to love the art of medicine itself. “Treatment goes far beyond just science. The practice itself is an art form intertwined with a really interesting history, especially in hand surgeons [Dr. Hassan’s specialty]. You have to be a good listener as a physician. You meet new people every day and often the patient gives you the answer before even doing the exam.” Looking into the future, Dr. Hassan is excited for tissue regeneration, transplantation, minimally invasive techniques and implants. I asked if we could see prosthetics on par with those in Star Wars to which he gave a chuckle and said “it is only a matter of time.” Maybe that galaxy is not so far away after all.

In his free time Dr. Hassan is very active. His hobbies get him out year-round as he enjoys everything from water skiing and paddle boarding to snow skiing and fly fishing. Dr. Hassan loves racket sports with tennis being his favorite. He started playing as a child and entered tournaments due to loving the competition. Now he enjoys tennis as a social sport like one enjoys golf but appreciates it for being less time consuming.

Another one of Dr. Hassan’s more relaxing hobbies is writing: “it’s my artistic release.” Dr. Hassan has published a novel titled The Reservoir which is a story that mixes in medicine, world travel and science fiction into a CIA-styled thriller. He is currently writing the sequel to the story and explains, “I love learning how to play with different writing aspects such as time and story narration and switching between first and third person.” His biggest concern is that there is not enough time to sit back and finish his writings.

One question we enjoy asking the doctors is which cartoon character they would like to be and Dr. Hassan thoughtfully decided on Batman. “I don’t know if I’d wear the mask but I like him. He’s still human, he doesn’t have powers, it makes him vulnerable.” We suppose he could be doctor by day, crime fighting vigilante by night. Dr. Hassan used to read comics as a child and said Batman was his favorite because “he was more whimsical” than how he is portrayed today. Dr. Hassan considers himself a bit of a history buff, learning about history for his novels but especially loving American history. He would love to meet Benjamin Franklin because “he was multitalented, enjoyed his life…he was the original bohemian.”