A few weeks into 2022, I did something I hadn’t ever planned to do. I gave a lecture to a ballroom full of hand surgeons about what makes hands perfect.
In the spring of 2021, I was approached by Dr. Nash Naam, the President of the American Association of Hand Surgery, after he had read an article in the Chicago Tribune about my historic performance of Rachmaninoff’s piano concerti Nos. 1, 2, and 3, performed in one evening last April with the New Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Kirk Muspratt.
Dr. Nash, who is also a fellow Egyptian by birth and Coptic, is also a music lover and was very much interested by the fact that I was born with a disability in both hands and yet am able to play Rachmaninoff. What got me intrigued in my conversations with Dr. Nash was when he told me that I could help hand surgeons understand more about how someone like me can do what I do despite my hands, and that understanding my story would help them better work with children with unusual hand conditions and their parents.
“We surgeons are of the understanding that unless the hands are in perfect condition, you really can’t do something as complicated and as demanding as what you do,” he remarked.
I chose “My Perfect Hands” as the title for this lecture, and it was a mutually beneficial time as we learned from one another about what is possible with the hands and how the mind can have more control over the body than we often think.
I was also named as an honorary member of this wonderful association and am looking forward to future collaborations.
Learn more about what was covered at the 2022 AAHS annual conference.
