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Neurosurgery News

Edward Yap, MD, UNC neurosurgery residency alum, joined the UNC Neurosurgery team in December. Eddie recently completed a fellowship in neuroendovascular surgery at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

UNC Hospitals Children's Specialty Services at RaleighThe UNC Pediatric Neurosurgery team is now treating patients at the new UNC Hospitals Children’s Specialty Services Clinic in Raleigh and also at the UNC Specialty Care Clinic in Sanford.

We are proud to announce that Bethany Andrews and Nicole Silva and will be joining our neurosurgery residency program this summer.

Welcome to our new residents, Bethany Andrews and Nicole Silva


Recognition

Chief Clinical Officer Matt Ewend, MD, is co-leader of the group charged with COVID-19 preparation and operational activities across the UNC system.

NICU 2020
NICU team

Drs. Matt Ewend and Deanna Sasaki-Adams were named to the list of North Carolina’s Best Doctors of 2019 in Business North Carolina.

Casey Olm-Shipman, MD, and the entire Neuroscience Intensive Care Unit team received an inaugural UNC Medical Center Quality & Safety Award on Jan 14.


Research

Eldad Hadar, MD, and several other UNC researchers published “Network-Targeted, Multi-site Direct Cortical Stimulation Enhances Working Memory by Modulating Phase Lag of Low-Frequency Oscillations” in Cell Reports.

Brain illustrationCarolyn Quinsey, MD; PGY6 resident Wes Northam, MD, and other researchers published “Cranioplasty length of stay: Relationship with indication, surgical decision-making factors, and sex” in SAGE – Trauma.

Simon Khagi, MD, along with other members of the Lineberger research team, co-authored “Tumoricidal stem cell therapy enables killing in novel hybrid models of heterogeneous glioblastoma” in Neuro-Oncology, December 2019.

Resident Michael Catalino, MD, along with other researchers, published:

  • “Mapping cognitive and emotional networks in neurosurgical patients using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging” in Neurosurgery Focus, February 2020
  • “Exemplary Mentorship in Action: Harvey Cushing’s Trainees from 1912 to 1919” in the Journal of Neurosurgery, Epub, February 2020
  • “Gender disparities in surgical treatment of axis fractures in older adults” in the Global Spine Journal, November 25, 2019 with Deb Bhowmick, MD
  • Book Chapter: “Surgical treatment of pituitary adenomas,” Endotext, December 2019

Dr. Catalino also received funding from Brigham and Women’s Hospital Research Imaging Core to obtain resting-state functional MRIs in a study he is conducting titled “Quantifying Cerebral Network Dynamics and Neuropsychological Outcomes in Cushing’s Disease.”

PGY1 resident Aaron Gelinne, MD, and co-researchers published “Pediatric neurosurgery training during residency in the United States: A program director survey” in the Journal of Neurosurgery.


Presentations

UNC Neurosurgery was well represented at the North American Skull Base Society 30th Annual Meeting in San Antonio, Texas in February. Presentations included:

Dr. Sasaki-Adams presenting at NASBSDeanna Sasaki-Adams, MD

    • Skull base surgeons techniques (with Brian Thorp, MD)
    • Glomus Tumors: To Embolize or Not?
    • Open vs. endo treatment of aneurysm and AVM panel
    • Cavernous sinus and petroclival meningiomas

Carolyn Quinsey, MD

    • Women in Skull Base Surgery

Dr. Quinsey presents at NASBS

Michael Catalino, MD

    • Modeling Post-operative Cortisol Using Normalized Decay Rates in Cushing’s Disease

Nathan Quig, MD

    • Endonasal approach to ethmoidal artery dural AV fistulas

NASBS meeting posters and abstracts included:

Drs. Quig and Sharastri pose with their NASBS poster

Drs. Nathan Quig, Darshan Shrastri, Brian Sindelar and Deanna Sasaki-Adams

    • Presigmoid transpetrosal translabrynthine approaches

Drs. Nathan Quig, Michael Cools, Darshan Shrastri, Michael Catalino, Adam Zanation, Deanna Sasaki-Adams

    • Transethmoidal endoscopic endonasal treatment of ethmoidal artery dural arteriovenous

Michael Catalino, MD

    • Co-researcher: “Ergonomics in endoscopic trans-sphenoidal surgery: A Survey of the North American Skull Base Society”

Dr. Scott EltonScott Elton, MD, discussed hydrocephalus as it relates to MPS at the MPS Society’s Physician MasterClass in Orlando, Florida last December.

Carolyn Quinsey, MD, presented:

  • “Deliberate Practice in Neurosurgical Residency Training at the Southern Neurosurgical Society Annual Meeting” in Arizona last December.
  • Grand Rounds to pediatric medical providers at the New Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilmington, NC on January 21.

Michael Catalino, MD, presented:

  • “Quantifying Limbic Network Dynamics and Neuropsychological Outcomes in Cushing’s Disease” at the Comprehensive Neuroscience Outcomes Center 2019 Symposium. Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School. Boston, MA.
  • “Harvey Cushing, A History of Mentorship in Neurology & Neurosurgery,” 1055th Meeting of the Boston Society of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry (established 1880); Brigham and Women’s Hospital; February 27, 2020.

A UNC team of neurosurgery residents and med students presented research on trauma and concussion at the annual meeting of the AANS/CNS Section on Pediatric Neurological Surgery in Scottsdale, Arizona in December. Presentations and posters included:

Dr. Northam presented at the 2020 annual meeting of the AANS/CNS Section on Pediatric Neurological Surgery in Scottsdale, Arizona.Wes Northam, MD

  • “Evaluation of pediatric concussion is improved by fellowship training background” (Neurosurgery co-researchers: Michael Cools, MD; Kevin Carneiro, DO; Carolyn Quinsey, MD)

Mike Cools, MD

  • “Lost in translation: Accuracy of software driven translational devices in the pediatric neurosurgery clinical setting” (Neurosurgery co-researchers: Gene Hobbs, CHSE; Carolyn Quinsey, MD)

Gami Pajer, Medical student

  • Severe TBI protocols

Karli Person-Jones, BS, presented her poster at the 2020 annual meeting of the AANS/CNS Section on Pediatric Neurological Surgery in Scottsdale, Arizona.Karli Person-Jones, Medical student

  • “Children Struck by Motor Vehicles: Factors associated with subsequent head injury” (Neurosurgery co-researchers: Weston Northam, MD; Carolyn Quinsey, MD)

Drs. Scott Elton and Carolyn Quinsey traveled to the Bahamas in January for the American Society of Pediatric Neurosurgeons Annual Meeting.


Media and Outreach

Head For The Cure Ambassador, Simon Khagi, MD, describes what it means to participate in a clinical trial in this Brains for the Cure article.

Drs. Hadar and Quinsey in MaurataniaDrs. Eldad Hadar and Carolyn Quinsey, MD, traveled to Mauritania to visit our new global partners. They met with the Minister of Health, officials at the US Embassy, and the medical school dean who showed them the dedicated simulation building.

Carolyn Quinsey, MD, visited Malawi in January to exchange ideas and techniques with our international partners. She also assisted an Oregon Health and Science University PGY6 neurosurgery resident get set up for her research year.


Events

Robert E. Harbaugh, MD, Penn State’s Chair of the Department of Neurosurgery, was the guest speaker at the sixth annual Robert H. Wilkins, MD, Lectureship in Academic Neurosurgery sponsored jointly by the UNC and Duke Neurosurgery Departments at the Carolina Inn on February 18. About 100 guests from both schools dined and later enjoyed Dr. Harbaugh’s talk on “The Future of Neurosurgical Education.” This annual lectureship honors Dr. Wilkins, who had a long and distinguished career at both institutions.

2020 Robert H. Wilkins, MD, Lectureship in Academic Neurosurgery

The Head for the Cure 5K Kickoff event originally scheduled for April 23 at the Carolina Brewery has been postponed until Thursday, June 4 from 6-7:30pm. The Head for the Cure 5K Run/Walk is scheduled for Saturday, September 12.


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