The University of Alabama at Birmingham Department of Neurosurgery Charles A. and Patsy W. Collat Endowed Professor of Neurosurgery Mark Hadley, M.D., FACS, recently served as the inaugural Marshall Allen lecturer at the Medical College of Georgia (MCG) at Augusta University.
 
On Aug. 25, 2023, Hadley delivered two lectures titled, “Acceleration” and “Perfusion Pressure Management in Spinal Cord Surgery. A Career Pursuit in Academic Neurosurgery.”
 
The lectureship, established by former UAB Neurosurgery resident Fernando L. Vale, M.D., was created to honor the late Marshall B. Allen, M.D., the first chair of MCG at Augusta University’s Department of Neurosurgery. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the launch of the lectureship was delayed from 2019 to 2023, when Vale invited Hadley, his career mentor, as the honored speaker. 
 
Throughout Hadley’s career, he has participated in a multitude of works focused on perfusion pressure and mean arterial pressure management for spinal cord injury, including two clinical human studies, one laboratory model investigation and several guidelines efforts. 
 
About Vale
 
Vale, the first UAB Neurosurgery residency program graduate to be appointed as chair of a neurosurgical department, trained in the UAB Division of Neurological Surgery from 1991 to 1997.
 
“Dr. Vale was an energetic, accomplished and beloved resident at UAB,” said Hadley. 
 
Upon his graduation from the UAB Neurosurgery residency program, Vale joined the neurosurgical group at the University of South Florida (USF) under the leadership of Chair Harry van Loveren, M.D., where he became a highly respected neurosurgeon and clinician scientist with a focus in functional neurosurgery, epilepsy, brain tumors and pituitary surgery.
 
Vale later ascended to the position of the residency training program director and ultimately was appointed to vice-chair of the Department of Neurosurgery at USF.
 
Throughout his career, Vale has remained active in clinical outcomes research and currently has 78 publications to his credit. His h-index is an impressive 34 with more than 4,000 citations. His most cited publication is the study he designed and completed with Hadley on perfusion pressure management for acute spinal cord injuries, published in the Journal of Neurosurgery in 1997. He has given numerous invited lectures regionally and nationally on topics of his interest and academic focus. 
 
In February 2019, Vale was recruited to the position of chair of the Department of Neurosurgery at the MCG at Augusta University in Augusta, GA, where he currently leads a growing faculty practice and an active neurosurgery residency training program.