Awards & Recognitions – February 2023

Spine Summit Abstracts

Barrow neurosurgery trainees have had 15 abstracts accepted for presentation at Spine Summit 2023. The American Association of Neurological Surgeons/Congress of Neurological Surgeons Section on Disorders of the Spine and Peripheral Nerves will host the conference in March in Miami. Four Barrow residents have received the Kuntz Scholar Award for their research, supporting their travel to and attendance at the meeting.

neurosurgery resident Katriel Lee, MD
Katriel Lee, MD, PGY-2 Neurosurgery Resident
  • Correlation of spine neurosurgeons’ Healthgrades ratings and academic productivity
  • Inpatient vs outpatient lateral lumbar interbody fusion: a single institution review of patient and surgical factors for patient selection (Kuntz Award)
neurosurgery resident Jeff Ehresman, MD
Jeff Ehresman, MD, PGY-2 Neurosurgery Resident
  • Clinical outcomes and radiographic results of prone transpsoas lateral lumbar interbody fusion: a single institution case series of 106 cases and 173 levels (Kuntz Award)
Michael White, MD
Michael White, MD, PGY-3 Neurosurgery Resident
  • Titanium implants result in higher fusion rates for anterior lumbar interbody fusion performed at the lumbosacral junction
  • Pseuodarthrosis after four-level anterior cervical discectomy and fusion
Steve Cho
Steve Cho, MD, PGY-3 Neurosurgery Resident
  • Stable long-term regional and global alignment in patients treated with minimally invasive lateral retropleural thoracic discectomy without fixation (Kuntz Award)
Robert Rudy, MD
Robert Rudy, MD, PGY-4 Neurosurgery Resident
  • Low posterior electromyography threshold is not associated with poor functional outcomes following L4-5 lateral lumbar interbody fusion
Joseph DiDomenico, MD
Joseph DiDomenico, MD, PGY-5 Neurosurgery Resident
  • Radiomics to predict distal failure for correction of deformities with sparing of the lumbosacral junction
Gabriella Paisan, MD
Gabrielle Paisan, MD, PGY-5 Neurosurgery Resident
  • Low risk, high reward training: ventilated and perfused whole-body donor cadavers in a simulated operating room
Harrison Farber, MD
Harrison Farber, MD, PGY-6 Neurosurgery Resident
  • Causes of readmission following minimally invasive transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion
  • Is graft material still necessary in 3D titanium interbody fusion? A preclinical evaluation in sheep
James Zhou, MD
James Zhou, MD, PGY-6 Neurosurgery Resident
  • Reciprocal changes in sagittal spinal alignment following lumbar five to sacral one anterior lumbar interbody fusion
  • Predicting post-operative spinal alignment using intraoperative stitched x-rays (Kuntz Award)
Nima Alan, MD, Complex Spinal Neurosurgery Fellow
  • Evaluation of pre- and post-operative global alignment and proportion (GAP) score in circumferential minimally invasive spine surgery for adult spinal deformity
  • Incidence of radiographic and clinically significant pneumothorax and hemothorax after thoracic discectomy via mini-open lateral retropleural approach without prophylactic chest tube placement

Shelly Timmons Leadership Award

Charuta Furey, MD

The Neurosurgery Research & Education Foundation (NREF) and Women in Neurosurgery (WINS) have selected Barrow PGY-5 neurosurgery resident Charuta Furey, MD, for the 2023 Shelly Timmons Leadership Award. This award supports a fellowship in developing leadership skills for young neurosurgeons in training and in practice.

Leica CNS Tumor Award

The American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) has selected an abstract from Barrow Neurological Institute for its Leica CNS Tumor Award. The research was led by Yuan Xu, MD, a neurosurgery research fellow in the Loyal and Edith Davis Neurosurgical Research Laboratory at Barrow, which is directed by Mark Preul, MD. The abstract is titled: “Intraoperative in vivo confocal laser endomicroscopy imaging at glioma margins: Can we detect tumor infiltration?”

Vesalius Award

Barrow alumnus Dr. Ali Tayebi-Meybodi has earned the Vesalius Award from the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS). He received the award for his abstract titled: “‘Artery of Uchimura’: Origin and Evolution of the Identification of the Vascular Supply of the Hippocampus.” Dr. Tayebi-Meybodi performed research in the Loyal and Edith Davis Neurosurgical Research Laboratory under the leadership of Mark Preul, MD. The AANS will present the award at its 2023 Annual Scientific Meeting.