Former UAB Department of Neurosurgery resident Christoph J. Griessenauer, M.D., FAANS, FACS, FEBNI, was recently named Chair of the Department of Neurosurgery at Uniklinikum Salzburg (University Hospital Salzburg) in Salzburg, Austria, making him the first UAB neurosurgery resident to be named an international chair.

UAB neurosurgeons James Markert, M.D., MPH, Mark Hadley, M.D., Mark Harrigan, M.D., and Philip Schmalz, M.D., were pleased to travel to Salzburg to attend Griessenauer’s inaugural lecture on Nov. 16, 2022.

While in Austria, Harrigan presented a lecture on blunt cerebrovascular injury.

Griessenauer, originally from Austria, attended Paracelsus Medical University (PMU) in Salzburg before temporarily relocating to the U.S.

His decision to specialize in neurosurgery was made during his fourth year of study at PMU during a research term spent at Yale University where he became fascinated with the connection between neuroanatomy and surgery.

After earning his medical degree from PMU, Griessenauer spent time conducting functional neurosurgery research at the Mayo Clinic before training in the UAB Department of Neurosurgery Residency Program.

Griessenauer completed a cerebrovascular neurosurgery fellowship at Beth Israel Medical Center, a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School in Boston, MA.

While training and practicing at some of the most renowned clinics across the U.S., Griessenauer published more than 300 scientific papers.

Before the connection to his alma mater brought him back to his homeland, Griessenauer was appointed senior physician and an associate professor at Geisinger Medical Center in PA.

The PMU graduate returned to Salzburg, Austria, at the age of 37, where he was named chairman of the department of neurosurgery at University Hospital Salzburg. This made Griessenauer the youngest department chair at the hospital to date.

When looking back at his time spent in neurosurgery, Griessenauer said, “Work and leisure time are not separate when you know where you belong in professional life. When you forget what time it is and the day never gets too long, then your job has also become a hobby.”