News & Publications

October

• Christopher Carr gives second presentation about Suicide Prevention at Fort Eisenhower Naval Reserve Center Health Promotions Lecture Series.
• Overview of International Society for Pediatric Neurosurgery Annual Meeting, October 14-15
  • C Carr, W Ledford, M Alfaro, C Conger, J Henson, K Nguyen give oral presentation titled: Spontaneous Subependymal Giant Cell Astrocytoma in the Absence of Tuberous Sclerosis Complex: A Case Report and Systematic Review.
  • C Carr, M Butler, D Baker, A Bhatia, F Vale, K Nguyen give oral presentation titled: Robot-assisted MR-guided Laser Interstitial Thermal Therapy for a Giant Sessile Hypothalamic Hamartoma in an Eight-year-old Boy: Case Report and Comprehensive Review of the Literature. 
• Overview of Congress of Neurological Surgeons Annual Meeting, October 1
  • C Carr, D Baker, M Pare, F Vale give poster presentation titled: A 24-year-old Male with Numerous and Extensive Compressive Plexiform Neurofibromatosis Type 1 Lesions of the Cervical Spinal Canal. 
  • C Carr, P Reddi, A Post give poster presentation titled: Elective C3-4 ACDF in a Pregnant Patient: Case Report, Comprehensive Review of the Literature, and Considerations for the Spine Surgeon.
  • C Carr, K James, M Pare give poster presentation titled: A Systematic Review of the Role of Wearable Devices and Predictive Analytics in Assessing Functional Outcomes after Lumbar Fusion.
  • C Carr, A Helton, A Lewis, A Abernathy, M Pare give poster presentation titled: A Retrospective Cohort of Eleven African American Patients in a Rural Southern Hospital with Ossification of the Posterior Longitudinal Ligament in the Cervical Spine.

September

• Christopher Carr gives oral presentation about Suicide Prevention at Fort Eisenhower Naval Reserve Center Health Promotions Lecture Series.
• Christopher Carr gives oral presentation titled: Structural and Functional Organization of the Nervous System at the Medical College of Georgia Neurosurgery Grand Rounds American Board of Neurological Surgery Neuroanatomy Exam Lecture Series.
• Molly Braun, PhD featured in Women in Medicine Month (September). The MCG Office for Faculty Success has had the great honor of celebrating one inspiring woman faculty member each day in September on X (formally Twitter) at @AUG_OFS. These faculty individually and collectively have made tremendous contributions benefiting patients, trainees, colleagues, the community, and science--locally, nationally, and internationally. We are proud to call them our peers. In case you missed it, a calendar of our 2024 Honorees is below. Please take a moment to thank them for everything they give.

• Our PGY 4 Resident, Christopher Carr, received a promotion to Lieutenant Commander (LCDR, O4) in the Navy

August

• 2nd Annual Marshall B. Allen, MD Symposium. Featuring John A. Wilson, MD, FAANS, FACS, Professor, Neurosurgery. Dr. Wilson research interests.

• Overview of symposium presentations from the department:
  • Luca Debs, MD, Scott Rahimi, MD & Fernando Vale, MD give oral presentation titled: The Tipping Point in Middle Meningeal Artery Embolization: An Algorithm-Based Cost Effectiveness Analysis. 
  • C Carr, P Reddi, A Post give oral presentation titled: Elective C3-4 ACDF in a Pregnant Patient: Case Report, Comprehensive Review of the Literature, and Considerations for the Spine Surgeon. 
  • C Carr, M Butler, D Baker, A Bhatia, F Vale, K Nguyen give oral presentation titled: Laser Interstitial Thermal Therapy for a Giant Sessile Hypothalamic Hamartoma in an Eight Year Old Boy

May

• MCG researcher says combat blasts caused injury to brain-cleansing system.
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• Overview of Georgia Neurosurgical Society Spring/ Summer Meeting at Sea Island, GA, May 24-26
  • Luca Debs, MD, Seena Mansouri, BS, Luke Ledford, BS, William Woodall, MD & Fernando Vale, MD give oral presentation titled: Industry Payments to Academic Neurosurgeons in 2021: An Open Payments Cross-sectional Analysis.
  • C Carr, A Helton, A Lewis, A Abernathy, M Pare give presentation titled: A Retrospective Cohort of 429 Patients in a Rural Southern Hospital with Ossification of the Posterior Longitudinal Ligament in the Cervical Spine.
  • Luca Debs receives Best Resident Presentation Award at the Georgia Neurosurgical Society Spring Meeting.

April

• Overview of American Association of Neurological Surgeons
  • Luca Debs, MD, Seena Mansouri, BS, Luke Ledford, BS, William Woodall, MD & Fernando Vale, MD give oral presentation titled: Industry Payments to Academic Neurosurgeons in 2021: An Open Payments Cross-sectional Analysis.

March

• Krishnan Dhandapani, PhD, was awarded a $1,975,262 grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study how changes in cerebral metabolism influence chronic neurodegeneration after a traumatic brain injury.
• Dr. Krishnan Dhandapani, in collaboration with Drs. David Hess and Mohammad Badruzzaman Khan from the Augusta University Department of Neurology, was awarded a new $1,848,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health to identify novel cerebroprotectants after stroke. This multi-center research project involves researchers from Augusta University, Yale University, Harvard University, University of Iowa, University of California-San Diego, Duke University, and University of Southern California.
• Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS) - Abbas Jarrahi, MD received the “Best Basic Science Poster Award” in the Neurotrauma and Critical Care Section Session at the 2023 Congress of Neurological Surgeons for his work using genomics to define the inflammatory profiles following a traumatic brain injury.
• Abbas Jarrahi, MD received a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from Hull College of Business, Augusta University in Dec, 2023. Dr. Jarrahi also received membership in Beta Gamma Sigma, an international honor society for collegiate schools of business, based on his high scholastic achievement.
• Nicholas Moore, a MD/PhD student in Dr. Dhandapani’s laboratory, passed his comprehensive examination and advanced to candidacy for his PhD.
• Fernando Vale, MD, who was an early user of a nonpharmacological therapy for treatment-resistant epilepsy called vagus nerve stimulation, became among the first in the nation to put a new implantable pulse generator into a patient with one of those early models, which enables her to benefit from the latest technology updates without having to replace her entire device.

August

• 1st Annual Marshall B. Allen, MD Symposium at SRP Park. Featuring honored Speaker Dr. Mark N. Hadley . 

• Fernando Vale, MD  Among the 1st in the nation to perform Vagus Nerve Stimulation for Epilepsy. Fernando Vale, MD, a neurosurgeon who was an early user of a nonpharmacological therapy for treatment-resistant epilepsy called vagus nerve stimulation, this week became among the first in the nation to put a new implantable pulse generator into a patient with one of those early models, which enables her to benefit from the latest technology updates without having to replace her entire device.
  • Vale, the chair of the Department of Neurosurgery at the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University and chief of functional and epilepsy neurosurgery at AU Health, placed the new generator in a 40-year-old patient who received her implant 23 years ago.

May 

• Dr. Scott Rahimi was named President of the Georgia Neurosurgical Society (GNS)
• Khoi Nguyen was named Program Chair 

April 

• The 2023 Cushing Bowl Champions MCG raised $4450 ranking top volunteer amongst other institutions. Over $16,000 was raised in total to support NREF ( Neurosurgery research and Educational Foundation) research grants and educational programs.

February 

• Annual Southern Neurosurgical Society Meeting Featured Guest, Fernando Vale, MD - Semmes Lecturer. Dr. Vale gave a memorable presentation during the annual SNS Meeting of 2023 titled "Challenges of a New Chair - Should I do it Again?" 

January

• Dr. Vale announced as the honored guest of Southern Neurosurgical Society- 2023