OU Orthopedic Surgeon Named Fulbright Scholar

Yuri Lansinger, M.D., associate professor with the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine and a board-certified orthopedic surgeon specializing in hand surgery, has received the Fulbright U.S. Scholar award for the 2024-2025 academic year.

The 10-month research award will help Lansinger connect with health care professionals in South Korea to compare the two different models of healthcare in U.S. and Korea to see if access to care, particularly, subspecialty care, lead to different patient outcomes in managing difficult nerve injuries of the upper extremity. She said it was surreal when she found out she received the Fulbright Scholar Award. 

“I was delighted to hear that I was selected because it means a lot to me not just professionally but personally in terms of the opportunity that my family gets to experience together,” Lansinger said. “My family and I have been wanting to do this for a while and it's actually coming into reality.”

Fulbright U.S. Scholars are faculty, researchers, administrators and established professionals teaching or conducting research in affiliation with institutes abroad. Fulbright Scholars engage in cutting-edge research and expand their professional networks, often continuing research collaborations started abroad and laying the groundwork for forging future partnerships between institutions.  

Lansinger received a medical degree from Georgetown University School of Medicine in Washington, D.C., in 2007. Subsequently, she completed her Orthopedic Surgery Residency at the University of Pittsburgh medical center in 2012. In 2013, she pursued further specialized education and training in orthopedic hand surgery through a hand surgery fellowship at Integris Baptist Medical Center in Oklahoma City.

Lansinger said she hopes this Fulbright award will lead to further collaboration and partnership with OU and medical centers in South Korea.  

“Under usual circumstances, if I were to practice out in community as a private practice hand surgeon, it would be difficult to take a year off to go somewhere abroad to do a research project,” Lansinger said. “Being at OU, from the department chair to my senior partner, they were all very supportive through the whole application process.”

She will join an alumni network of Fulbrighters that includes 62 Nobel Laureates, 89 Pulitzer Prize winners, 80 MacArthur Fellows, 41 heads of state or government and thousands of leaders across the private, public and non-profit sectors.