The UAB Department of Neurosurgery faculty is growing in order to meet the demand for neurosurgery services in our community and to continue to enhance research into neurological disorders. We welcome our new faculty members: 

• Jianmei Leavenworth, MD, PhD
• Thomas Staner, MD
• William Stetler, MD

Dr. Jianmei Leavenworth will join UAB Neurosurgery as an Assistant Professor on Oct. 1, 2016. Dr. Leavenworth comes to UAB from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute at Harvard University. Her main research interest is to understand the mechanisms of self-tolerance, focusing on molecular and cellular elements that regulate effector and regulatory cell subsets of the immune response. Her long-term goal is to seek effective strategies for cancer immunotherapy using mouse models and specimens from patients with malignant tumors, including gliomas. Dr. Leavenworth completed medical school at Nantong University (NTU) School of Medicine, Nantong, Jiangsu, China. She then finished her PhD training in molecular biology, microbiology and biochemistry with a focus on immunology at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine. She has been at Harvard Medical School since 2009 serving as a research fellow (Postdoc) and then as an instructor.

Dr. Thomas Staner is board-certified in both neurology and neurosurgery and has more than 40 years of neurological experience. His recruitment has led to the recent opening of the UAB Medicine Neurosurgery Clinic at Greystone, which is conveniently located along the Highway 280 corridor and is designed to evaluate and treat conditions of the brain and spine. Dr. Staner earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Loyola University in Chicago, and graduated from Loyola Medical School in 1969. He completed an internship at Northwestern University in Chicago and was the first solely surgical intern at that facility. Dr. Staner went on to complete a neurology residency at the University of Iowa. Dr. Staner began his neurosurgical residency at the University of Wisconsin in 1973, but took time off to serve as Lieutenant Commander at the Naval hospital in Portsmouth, Va. Upon completing his Naval service, Dr. Staner completed his neurosurgical residency in December 1978. Dr. Staner began practicing in the Birmingham area in 1979, and was the first to use the operating microscope for all neurosurgical procedures in Alabama. He has practiced minimally invasive surgical techniques for many years.

Dr. Will Stetler joined UAB as an Assistant Professor in August 2016. He currently is building his practice in general neurosurgery with a focus on cerebrovascular and endovascular neurosurgery to complement his extensive endovascular training. Dr. Stetler is a native of Alabama and grew up in the Birmingham area. He subsequently went to Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine for a change of pace where he received a B.A. cum laude in Biochemistry. He subsequently returned home to Birmingham, where he attended UAB School of Medicine graduating at the top of his class with AOA honors. Following medical school, Dr. Stetler completed his neurosurgery internship and residency at the University of Michigan under the guidance of Dr. Karin Muraszko. During his residency, Dr. Stetler was able to complete an enfolded endovascular fellowship mentored by Drs. Greg Thompson and Aditya Pandey (neurosurgery), as well as Drs. Joseph Gemmete and Neeraj Chaudhary (radiology). To further broaden his training, Dr. Stetler then chose to complete another endovascular fellowship at the University of Florida under the direction of Dr. Brian Hoh, a pioneer and leader in combined open and endovascular neurosurgery. During this busy fellowship, Dr. Stetler was able to perform well over 700 endovascular procedures, as well as numerous microsurgical procedures to refine his technical skills and hone his clinical acumen.