L to R: Drs. Philip Schmalz and Jake GodzikThis month, the department welcomed Assistant Professors Philip Schmalz, M.D. and Jakub "Jake" Godzik, M.D.

Schmalz completed his undergraduate studies at Washington and Lee University and the College of Charleston. He pursued his medical degree at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana.

After completing his medical degree, Schmalz joined the Howard Hughes Medical Institute as a research scholar for the National Institutes of Health. While at HHMI-NIH, he worked to develop new immunotherapeutics for the treatment of malignant gliomas as well as novel techniques in murine glioma models.

Schmalz completed his clinical fellowships at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center-Harvard Medical School and Duke University. His clinical interests include cerebrovascular, endovascular, and skull base surgery.

Godzik attended the University of California in Berkeley for his undergraduate studies in Molecular and Cellular Biology. He pursued his medical degree and master’s degree in statistics and clinical study design at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.

Godzik then completed his seven-year neurosurgical residency at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Arizona. During his time at the Barrow, he completed a year-long combined orthopedic and neurosurgical fellowship in complex and minimally invasive spine surgery with the San Diego Spine Foundation. His clinical interests include spinal deformity and minimally invasive spine surgeries, with a focus on use of spinal robotics, lateral access, and endoscopic. His academic interests include patient outcomes-based research, augmented and virtual reality, and spinal biomechanics.