World Spine Care remembers Dr. Maria Hondras
The World Spine Care community is saddened to learn about the passing of Maria Anthi Hondras, DC, MPH, PhD. Dr. Hondras was an integral part of the World Spine Care Research Committee. She helped author 6 of the Global Spine Care Initiative research papers and a focused ethnography in Botswana.
“She made a big impact in her time in Botswana and was my supervisor for the research project at that time,” shared Dr. Mufudzi Chihambakwe. “Her study on the lived experiences of people in Shoshong and how they described their pain has been a key resource for clinicians in Botswana since it was published in 2015. Maria will be missed.”
Her obituary reads in part:
“At a time when some academics start looking towards retirement, Maria said yes to an unusual opportunity: to complete her PhD at the University of Southern Denmark in Odense, Denmark, and to collect research data at the newly opened World Spine Care Clinics in Shoshong and Mahalapye, Botswana. Speaking neither Danish nor Setswana, Maria packed her bags for the adventure of a lifetime, becoming an integral member of the WSC Research Committee and successfully defending her dissertation research to earn her PhD in Health Sciences in 2015.”
We are grateful for Maria’s great work in bringing evidence-based spine care to the people in Botswana. We express our deepest condolences to her family, friends, and colleagues.
