News & Events

Brian Gantwerker, MD, has received the North American Spine Society's Spine Advocacy Award.

James Wright, MD and Christina Wright, MD from the Case Western Reserve University/University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center's Back to Bedside* team explain how Surgical Rehearsal Platform (SRP) technology can also be used to support informed consent and provide a greater interaction between resident and patient.

*ACGME's Back to Bedside initiative empowers residents and fellows to engage with their patients and promote innovations that create a culture of meaning and joy.

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A new clinical trial is looking into validating whether a modified version of the virus that causes polio can impact the survival rates of people with glioblastoma (GBM), a deadly cancer of the brain.

University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center recently treated its first patient in the clinical trial. UH Seidman is the only site in the U.S. Midwest participating in the trial, which was initiated at Duke Cancer Institute in Durham, NC.

“This trial uses a polio virus modified to specifically target a receptor (CD155) found only on tumor cells,” says Andrew E. Sloan, MD, FAANS, FACS. Dr. Sloan is Director of the Brain Tumor and Neuro-Oncology Center and the Center of Excellence in Translational Neuro-Oncology at UH Seidman Cancer Center and the UH Neurological Institute.

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Congratulations to Dr. Jill Barnholz Sloan for making the 2019 Web of Science list of Highly Cited Researchers.

The Neurological Institute congratulates Dr. Jill Barnholz Sloan, who is among only eight faculty members of Case Western Reserve University, who made the 2019 Web of Science list of Highly Cited Researchers. The list identifies scientists and social scientists who demonstrate their impact through the publication of multiple papers repeatedly cited by their peers - ranking them in the top 1% of citations for a chosen field.

The UH Department of Neurological Surgery hosted the 10th annual "Surgical Treatment of the Craniocervical Junction" course here at UH Cleveland Medical Center on August 27 – 28, 2019. Eighteen senior neurosurgery residents from different programs around the country attended the course, which is directed by Dr. Nicholas Bambakidis. The two-day course is an intensive, hands-on course in the surgical management of pathologies of the craniocervical junction. The course is officially recognized by the Congress of Neurological Surgeons. Faculty included prominent neurosurgeons Dr. Peter Nakaji of the University of Arizona/Banner Health, Dr. Joseph Zabramski from the Barrow Neurological Institute, Dr. Sepideh Amin-Hanjani of the University of Illinois Chicago, Dr. Peter Weisskopf of Mayo Clinic – Arizona, Dr. Louis Kim of the University of Washington, Dr. Michael Steinmetz from the Cleveland Clinic Foundation and Dr. Chad Glenn from the University of Oklahoma COM. Our honored guest this year was Dr. Vincent Traynelis from Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, Illinois. Local faculty included Drs. Alia Hdeib and Manish Kasliwal as well as Drs. Cliff Megerian and Sarah Mowry from the UH Department of Otolaryngology.

The 3rd annual Skull Base Fellowship course was held on August 29 – 30, 2019 for neurosurgery fellows and recent graduates of neurosurgery residency programs. The course included lectures and hands-on cadaver dissections supervised by both neurosurgeons and ENT surgeons demonstrating posterolateral transtemporal surgical approaches as well as endoscopic endonasal anatomy and surgical options. Prominent speakers included, Dr. Carl Snyderman of the Department of Otolaryngology at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Dr. Paul Gardner of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Dr. Michael Link (Mayo Clinic – Rochester), Dr. Peter Nakaji of the University of Arizona/Banner Health, Dr. Joseph Zabramski from Barrow Neurological Institute, Dr. Peter Weisskopf of the Mayo Clinic – Arizona, Dr. Pablo Recinos of the Department of Neurology at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation and Dr. Louis Kim of the University of Washington. Local faculty included Drs. Yin Hu, Cliff Megerian, Brian D’Anza, Kenny Rodriquez and Sarah Mowry from the UH Department of Otolaryngology. The course was sponsored by the Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS).

The neurosurgery residents present the Golden Apple award to a faculty member each year for excellence in teaching. The 2019 award was given to Dr. Tiffany Hodges, who the residents feel is not only an outstanding teacher, but leads by personal example and challenges residents to become better neurosurgeons.

Collaboration is at the heart of Dr. Jill S. Barnholtz-Sloan's work. Recognized by colleagues as a "team scientist," her impact on research extends well beyond her own projects in brain-tumor epidemiology.

Because of her expertise in bioinformatics, Barnholtz-Sloan is often called on to help researchers-in leadership roles with the CWRU GI SPORE Biostatistics Core, CWRU Barrett's Esophagus Translational Research Network Bioinformatics Core and Case Comprehensive Cancer Center (CCCC) Biostatistics and Bioinformatics Core Facility-design their studies and interpret the results.

Barnholtz-Sloan, who joined the Case Western Reserve faculty in 2007, also leverages the power of collaboration in her own research: To gather a larger sample for brain-tumor research, she works with others as principal investigator (PI) of the Ohio Brain Tumor Study, a multi-site network. And she's teamed with other researchers as PI for the Central Brain Tumor Registry of the United States.

Barnholtz-Sloan's research has shed light on various aspects of brain tumors, including cancer demographics and therapeutics, among others.

With more than 250 peer-reviewed publications-eight of which have been cited more than 100 times-Barnholtz-Sloan, who holds primary appointments in the Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences and at the CCCC, has contributed greatly to the field.

"In many respects," a researcher unaffiliated with the university wrote in a nominating letter, "I see in Jill Barnholtz-Sloan leadership capabilities that are primed for explosive and focused yields as she is tasked to lead new initiatives."

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Dr. Tiffany Hodges was presented with the 2017 Minority Faculty Development Award by University Hospitals’ Center for Clinical Excellence, Diversity and Inclusion to pursue her research interest involving glioblastoma (GBM).

We are pleased to announce that Krystal Tomei MD, pediatric neurosurgeon and Assistant Professor of Neurological Surgery, is the recipient of the 2017 University of Florida (UF) College of Medicine Outstanding Young Alumni Award. The award recognizes UF graduates from the past 10 years who have made a significant impact on their industry and have achieved professional accomplishments at the State, National, or International level. Dr. Tomei will be honored for her achievements during alumni weekend festivities at the University of Florida in April. Congratulations, Dr. Tomei!

Dr. Krystal Tomei was elected to the American Medical Association Council on Medical Education. The council consists of 10 total members elected in sequential years by the AMA House of Delegates to serve four-year terms. The council serves to provide annual reports to the AMA on the current conditions of medical education in the U.S. and make suggestions as to the various means by which the AMA may favorably influence and elevate medical education.

Dr. Krystal Tomei received an American Medical Association Foundation Excellence in Medicine Award. This award program recognizes medical students and physicians who exemplify the highest values of the profession in categories of community engagement, volunteerism, leadership and service to underserved populations. Dr. Tomei was selected as one of two early-career physician recipients in recognition of her leadership and contribution to organized medicine.

The neurosurgery graduation dinner was held on Saturday, June 23rd. Drs. Fernando Alonso, Efrem Cox and Gabriel Smith were honored for their completion of the neurosurgery residency program. Dr. Alonso will be joining Kaiser Permanente in San Diego. Dr. Cox will spend the next year performing a spinal neurosurgery fellowship at Jackson Memorial Hospital/University of Miami Health System. Dr. Smith will be joining our practice at the beginning of August.

We also celebrated the completion of several fellowships: Dr. James Wright completed an enfolded fellowship in neurocritical care under the direction of Dr. Alan Hoffer; Dr. Osmond Wu completed an enfolded fellowship in spinal neurosurgery under the direction of Dr. Manish Kasliwal; Dr. Thomas Ostergard completed a fellowship in the Minimally Invasive Skull Base Laboratory with Dr. Bambakidis. Dr. Chad Glenn completed a post-graduate fellowship in cerebrovascular and skull base neurosurgery under the direction of Dr. Bambakidis and will return to the University of Oklahoma as an Assistant Professor of Neurological Surgery. Dr. Simone Dekker was honored for her accomplishments as a post-doctoral fellow in the Minimally Invasive Skills Laboratory. She is applying for a residency in general medicine.

The UH Department of Neurological Surgery hosted Dr. Timothy Mapstone as the first Distinguished Alumni Lecturer on June 22, 2018. Dr. Mapstone is the Wilkins Professor and Chairman of the Department of Neurological Surgery at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. He gave a presentation on Chiari malformations. He is a 1983 graduate of the neurosurgery residency program. He joined the faculty upon graduation and remained in the department until 1983.

The 15th Annual Neurosurgery Charity Softball Tournament was held in New York City on Saturday, June 9, 2018. Forty neurosurgery residency programs from around the country participated in the event. The event raised $125,000 for NREF neuro-oncology research fellowships. This is the third year that our neurosurgery program participated in the tournament. Barrow Neurological Institute took home the trophy.

Dr. Nicholas Bambakidis and Dr. Warren Selman led the team into Central Park. Congratulations to all of our residents and fellows who played: Fernando Alonso, Efrem Cox, Yifei Duan, Chad Glenn, Byron Hills, Jonathan Pace, Berje Shammassian, Gabriel Smith, Mickey Smith, Christina Huang-Wright, James Wright. Dr. Alia Hdeib, Jennifer Jochum, Lois Hengenius and baby Miles Wright provided support to our players.

The ACGME Council of Review Committee Residents (CRCR) designed the “Back to Bedside” initiative to empower residents and fellows to develop transformative projects that combat burnout by fostering meaning in their learning environments; engaging on a deeper level with what is at the heart of medicine: their patients. The ACGME recently announced the selection of funding recipients for “Back to Bedside” after narrowing down to thirty recipients from 230 submissions. Neurosurgery resident, Dr. James Wright, was awarded one of these grants for his project entitled, “Back to the Future: Surgical Rehearsal Platform (SRP) Technology as a Means to Improve Surgeon-Patient Alliance, Patient Satisfaction, and Resident Experience.” His co-resident, Dr. Jessey Chugh, was also named on this grant and will be working with Dr. Wright.