UNC School of Medicine’s Eldad Hadar, MD, helped shape the Department of Neurosurgery while advancing clinical innovation at UNC Health.

Eldad Hadar, MD, clinical professor and vice chair of the Department of Neurosurgery at the UNC School of Medicine, is stepping down from UNC Health after nearly 25 years. Hadar is joining the faculty in the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where he will continue his neurosurgery practice.

 

 

Hadar joined UNC in August 2001 following two years of fellowship training in epilepsy surgery and functional neurosurgery at the Cleveland Clinic. Over his nearly 25 years at UNC, he has played a major role in shaping the Department of Neurosurgery, fostering collaboration and clinical innovation while helping train the next generation of physicians.

Hadar joined UNC at a pivotal time, as several faculty members departed what was then the Division of Neurosurgery. As one of two remaining faculty members, he helped guide the division’s growth into a department, serving on committees and strengthening collaboration across the institution.

“Dr. Hadar was instrumental in founding the Department of Neurosurgery,” says Matthew Ewend, MD, chief clinical officer of UNC Health, president of UNC Physicians and interim chair of the Department of Neurosurgery. Ewend also served as the first chair of the department from 2010-2018. “His accomplishments as an educator and physician-leader are truly remarkable.”

Hadar has held numerous leadership roles, including vice chair for faculty affairs, neurosurgery residency program director and director of the epilepsy and functional neurosurgery program, where he helped build and expand offerings.

Collaboration has been central to Hadar’s work. Early in his career at UNC, he remembers partnering with colleagues in the Department of Neurology to develop the deep brain stimulation (DBS) program.

“We built it from the ground up at a time when deep brain stimulation was in its infancy in the United States and really only done at major academic medical centers,” Hadar said. “We built it without a lot of track record, modified our approach along the way and nurtured the program over many years.”

Today, UNC’s DBS team has performed more than 1,000 procedures for patients across North Carolina. DBS involves implanting electrodes in targeted areas of the brain to regulate abnormal activity and is commonly used to treat conditions such as Parkinson’s disease and essential tremor.

In addition to maintaining a general neurosurgery practice, Hadar advanced innovation in his specialty areas. He was the first physician at UNC Health to use laser interstitial thermal therapy (LITT), a minimally invasive procedure that uses laser energy to remove epilepsy-related lesions from brain tissue, to treat both adult and pediatric patients.

Alongside his clinical work, Hadar has demonstrated a longstanding commitment to education and institutional service.

One area of service Hadar says he’s found especially rewarding has been serving on UNC Hospitals’ professional liability advisory committee, where he’s served since 2016 and acted as chair since July 2021.

“It’s a launching pad to go speak to other departments, inform them about their protections and also talk about strategies to mitigate their risk in future practice,” says Hadar. “It’s another opportunity to engage colleagues in an educational initiative.”

He’s held numerous roles supporting and educating students, including serving as the career goal advisor for the Department of Neurosurgery and, for the past sixteen years, he’s directed the neurosurgery residency program. He’s been awarded 14 Teacher of the Year awards, 10 from the Department of Neurosurgery and four from the Department of Anesthesiology.

“One of the most rewarding parts of my career has been the ability to teach and mentor young, aspiring physicians,” Hadar says. “I’ve said before that training residents has many similarities to raising kids. I have two sons and, as a parent, you want to help them achieve more than you have. I feel the same way about the residents I work with. I find it incredibly rewarding.”