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Dr. Kristen Riley is honored for her recent promotion to the rank of professor at the Nov. 15, 2018, Women in Science and Medicine Promotion Reception in the Partridge Atrium at the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center.

The UAB Department of Neurosurgery's Kristen Riley, M.D., was recognized for her recent promotion to the rank of professor at the Nov. 15 Women in Science and Medicine Promotion Reception in the Partridge Atrium at the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center.

By Marina Moody

Fifth-year Department of Neurosurgery resident Jacob Lepard, M.D., and his family recently returned home from the Cure Children’s Hospital of Uganda, where Lepard served for two months as part of a global surgery fellowship, jointly hosted by UAB and the Harvard Medical School's Program in Global Surgery and Social Change, and worked daily assisting in research protocol design and attending patient home visits.

Norine Wilson plays with her grandchildren in the yard, an activity she is now able to do after receiving spine surgery from UAB neurosurgeon Dr. Mamerhi Okor in June 2017. (Photo courtesy of Norine Wilson)

Norine Wilson says she’s never been the type to sit around and wait on anything. After living with chronic pain in her back and legs for more than a year and meeting with physicians who suggested only short-term treatments, she was ready for a real solution.

Dr. Jianmei Leavenworth

By Marina Moody

Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery Jainmei Wu Leavenworth, M.D., Ph.D., recently received the Comprehensive Cancer Center’s Young Supporters Board New Faculty Development Award. Leavenworth was awarded $50,000 for her project “Contribution of a new subset of NK cells to antitumor immunity.” Her research focuses on the mobilization of effector cells, such as natural killer cells, to mediate cooperative antitumor responses.

By Marina Moody

The multi-site Canine Immunoneurotherapeutics Trial, led by the Department of Neurosurgery’s Renee Chambers, D.V.M., M.D., at UAB and funded by the Beau Biden Cancer Moonshot program through the National Cancer Institute’s Center for Cancer Research, was recently mentioned in the NCI News Briefing and in a news story from Auburn University’s College of Veterinary Medicine.

By Marina Moody

Dr. James Markert

UAB Department of Neurosurgery Chair James Markert, M.D., M.P,H., was recently awarded an R01 grant from the National Cancer Institute for his research project, “Oncolytic Immunotherapy Using Chimeric HSV C134: A Phase I Trial and Establishment of Response Indicators in Recurrent Glioma Patients.” The project focuses on the effects of C134, a genetically engineered virus, in patients with recurrent malignant glioma. Markert hypothesizes that the virus will both directly kill the tumor cells through viral replication and secondarily kill tumor cells by inciting an antitumor response. The project was awarded $586,155 in funding.

Dr. Kristen Riley
Dr. Brandon G. Rocque

By Marina Moody

The Department of Neurosurgery’s Kristen Riley, M.D., and Brandon G. Rocque, M.D., have been promoted to professor and associate professor, respectively.

As of October 1, the Section of Pediatric Neurosurgery within the UAB Department of Neurosurgery is now a division. The new Division of Pediatric Neurosurgery is the first division to be named under the Department of Neurosurgery.

UAB neurosurgeon Mark N. Hadley, M.D., was recently chosen as the recipient of the 2018 Congress of Neurological Surgeons Distinguished Service Award. Hadley was honored by the CNS at the organization’s 65th Annual Meeting in Houston, Texas, on Oct. 9 and officially received this award at the meeting’s General Scientific Session III: “Systems and Teams as a Means to Extend Human Performance.”

According to the CNS, the Distinguished Service Award is the most prestigious award that the organization can bestow on an individual.

Dr. Mark Hadley

Hadley, who serves as the Charles A. and Patsy W. Collat Endowed Professor of Neurosurgery at UAB and as a professor in the UAB Department of Neurosurgery, has been an active leader in the CNS for more than 30 years. In 2003, he served as the president of the CNS, and from 1997-2000, served as its secretary. Hadley has served on the Editorial Board of the CNS journal, Neurosurgery, since 1999 and currently serves in an executive advisory role to the editor on the Neurosurgery Publishing Task Force as chair of the Neurosurgery Advisory Committee. From 1994-2004, he served on the CNS Executive Committee, and from 1992-1999, on the Executive Committee of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons/CNS Section on Disorders of the Spine and Peripheral Nerves. Hadley also served as a member of the AANS/CNS Washington Committee from 2001-2003.

“The Congress of Neurological Surgeons, one the world’s largest neurosurgical member service organizations with more than 8,000 members, is a leader in innovative educational programs and opportunities for neurosurgeons worldwide,” Hadley said. “True to its roots, the CNS has an equal-opportunity governance structure for all neurosurgeons, including those in training. Based on a meritocracy, the CNS offers professional development for young neurosurgeons—even those yet to be board certified—teaching, encouraging and promoting them to leadership roles for service in our field. I have greatly enjoyed my more-than-30-year membership and participation in the Congress of Neurological Surgeons and am deeply honored to receive this prestigious award.”

Hadley is considered a nationally and internationally recognized expert in the care and surgical treatment of patients with spinal cord tumors and spinal column pathology, including congenital anomalies, traumatic spinal cord injuries, fractures of the spinal vertebrae, degenerative spinal diseases, disc herniations, spinal stenosis, spinal reconstruction and fusion procedures of the entire spinal column. He performs an average of 300 such procedures a year.

Dr. James Markert

“Dr. Mark Hadley has been a dedicated member of a wide variety of neurosurgical organizations over the course of his career and, through his hard work and creativity in these areas, has made many contributions to our specialty,” said UAB Department of Neurosurgery Chair James Markert, M.D., M.P.H. “In particular, his work for the CNS has been vast, and he has helped shape this organization and its relationship to many of our other organizations. I can’t think of a more deserving individual for this award.”

Hadley is a true surgeon-scientist; treating hundreds of patients each year, studying their outcomes and other vital research issues in neurosurgery. He has published more than 200 scientific manuscripts in the literature and is the recipient of federal funding for human spinal cord injury research.

Hadley is also active in medical student and resident education and has served as the Department of Neurosurgery’s residency training program director for 19 years, helping to develop it into the highly competitive and sought-after neurosurgery training program that it is today. He remains committed to a number of leadership organizations within the field of neurosurgery and recently completed a six-year term as a director of the American Board of Neurological Surgery. This fall, Hadley was recognized as the Alden March Outstanding Surgical Alumnus Awardee from his medical school, Albany Medical College in New York.

Becker’s Spine Review recently featured UAB in its list of the highest-scoring hospitals in Neurology and Neurosurgery, according to the 2018 U.S. News and World Report Best Hospitals rankings. Organized by state, the list named UAB Hospital’s Neurology and Neurosurgery program the highest-scoring in Alabama. UAB Neurology and Neurosurgery was ranked No. 36 nationally by U.S. News in the report released last month, marking the fifth consecutive year the Department of Neurosurgery has ranked in the top 50 Neurology and Neurosurgery programs in the country.

U.S. News and World Report’s 2018 Best Hospitals report ranks UAB Neurology and Neurosurgery No. 36 in the nation, marking the fifth consecutive year the Department of Neurosurgery has ranked in the top 50 Neurology and Neurosurgery programs in the country.

Dr. Nicole Bentley

The Department of Neurosurgery welcomes a new assistant professor this month with the addition of Nicole J. Bentley, M.D., a neurosurgeon-scientist focused on functional and movement disorders. Bentley comes to UAB from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, where she completed a functional neurosurgery fellowship.

As one of Tammy Sharp’s nominators wrote her letter of recommendation for Employee of the Month, it was 7:30 p.m. Friday, and Sharp was still at the office — not unusual for someone known to colleagues for being dedicated and passionate about her work.

Save the date for the 35th Annual J. Garber Galbraith, M.D., Scientific Session and Lecture, November 8-9, 2018, featuring this year’s speaker Frederick A. Boop, M.D. Boop is chair of the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center and chief of pediatric neurosurgery at St. Jude’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee.

Match Day 2018 ushered in a new group of surgery residents, while saying goodbye to others who will soon leave UAB for different programs across the country. With 98 percent of students’ matching into residency positions, UAB students will continue their medical educations at 74 institutions across 27 states.

Dr. James Markert

The UAB Department of Neurosurgery ranked No. 10 nationally in 2017, according to rankings provided by the Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research, receiving more than $3.6 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health, nearly doubling the department’s 2016 funding.

The UAB Department of Neurosurgery held the 34th Annual J. Garber Galbraith, M.D., Scientific Session and Lecture on Friday, Oct. 6, 2017, in the Bradley Lecture Center at Children's of Alabama.

The Thirtieth Annual J. Garber Galbraith, MD Scientific Session and Lecture took place November 8, 2013. Along with the faculty, the J. Garber Galbraith Lecturer, Mitchel S. Berger, MD evaluated qualifying resident presentations and abstracts. Presenters with the highest scores for content, organization, and delivery received awards for their research.
2013 Award Winners, Left to right: Third place – Richard B. Morawetz, M.D., Resident Prize for Research: Amber Gordon, M.D.; Second place – Griffith Rutherford Harsh III, M.D., Resident Prize for Research: Joseph Miller, M.D.; First place – James Garber Galbraith, M.D., Resident Prize for Research: Kimberly Kicielinski, M.D.

The 33rd annual J. Garber Galbraith Lecture was held Friday, Nov. 11, 2016. Vincent C. Traynelis, M.D., from Rush University Medical Center  presented the lecture, “Correction of Degenerative Deformity." 
2016 Award Winners: 

• Garber Galbraith, MD Research Prize: John W. Amburgy, MD
• Griffith R. Harsh III, MD Research Prize:  Daxa M. Patel, MD
• Richard B. Morawetz, MD Research Prize:  Paul M. Foreman, MD
• Stephen Mahaley Jr,MD Research Prize: Christoph J. Griessenauer, MD and Paul M. Foreman, MD

UAB Neurosurgery was ranked No. 34 in the 2017 U.S. News & World Report Best Hospitals survey, which marks the fourth consecutive year the department has ranked in the top 50 Neurology and Neurosurgery programs.

“I believe this consistent recognition reflects the expertise and dedication of our faculty and trainees and the quality of care we deliver,” said James Markert, M.D., chair of the UAB Department of Neurosurgery.

A hospital’s score for Neurology and Neurosurgery is based on data such as volume of patients, patient survival, available technology and nurse staffing, and reputation among other specialists in the field. UAB was ranked highly for patient survival, patient safety, advanced technology, nurse staffing, and patient volume.

Overall, UAB Hospital again ranked as No. 1 in the state of Alabama, and nine other UAB specialties joined Neurology & Neurosurgery to be listed among the nation’s top 50.

“We are pleased that UAB Hospital continues to be recognized for providing world-class health care to the residents of our state, region and nation,” said Health System CEO Will Ferniany, Ph.D. “The consistent excellence of our faculty and staff is a reassuring constant during times of change and uncertainty in our country’s health care system. We are proud of our national rankings, and proud to be acknowledged as Alabama’s best hospital.”

In addition to UAB Neurology & Neurosurgery (34), UAB's highest-ranked programs include  Rheumatology (10), Nephrology (14), Pulmonology (17), Urology (20), Diabetes and Endocrinology (21), Gynecology (26), Cardiology and Heart Surgery (30), Geriatrics (47), and Ear, Nose and Throat (50).

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