Faculty, Resident Awards – Fall 2020
Zaman Mirzadeh, MD, PhD
Zaman Mirzadeh, MD, PhD, an assistant professor and a neurosurgeon-scientist at Barrow Neurological Institute, has been named a recipient of the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award. The New Innovator Award is one of four grant mechanisms supported by the National Institutes of Health through its High-Risk, High-Reward Research Program. This program encourages applicants to think “outside the box” to pursue trailblazing ideas in any area of research relevant to the NIH’s mission to advance knowledge and enhance health. Dr. Mirzadeh received the award for his research on the use of central nervous system targeted therapies for diabetes treatment. He is studying whether the brain can be rewired to normalize blood sugar levels in people with type 2 diabetes. Learn more.
Jacob Baranoski, MD
Jacob Baranoski, MD, a PGY-6 neurosurgery resident at Barrow, has received a highly competitive research fellowship grant from the Neurosurgery Research and Education Foundation. The grant will support Dr. Baranoski’s study of the potential role of dietary estrogens in preventing the formation and rupture of brain aneurysms. He will collaborate with Dr. Tomoki Hashimoto in the Barrow Aneurysm and AVM Research Center. Learn more.
Elliott Mufson, PhD
The National Institute on Aging at the National Institutes of Health has awarded an $11 million grant to Barrow researcher Elliott Mufson, PhD. The grant is a multisite clinical pathological program project to study the neurobiology of the early stages of dementia in older humans. Dr. Mufson is the principal investigator of the grant (No. PPG AG014449), which he has held for 25 years and has been renewed for an additional five years.
Laura Snyder, MD
Barrow neurosurgeon Laura Snyder, MD, was appointed to the Executive Committee of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS) as an Ex-Officio member. This is an important leadership position in the field of neurosurgery, as the CNS is one of the essential organizations for neurosurgeons, trainees, and industry innovators in neurosurgical disease.
Jinglu Ai, MD, PhD
The Brain Aneurysm Foundation announced an award of $50,000 to Jinglu Ai, MD, PhD, an associate professor of neurobiology in the Barrow Aneurysm and AVM Research Center. The award was funded by the Shirley Dudek Demmer Chair of Research and the Taylor Richelsen Chair of Research. Dr. Ai hopes his work will ultimately lead to a novel cure to prevent the rupture of brain aneurysms.
Alexander Whiting, MD
Alexander Whiting, MD, a PGY-7 neurosurgery resident at Barrow, received the 2020 American Epilepsy Society Young Investigator Award. This award recognizes young investigators conducting basic, translational, or clinical epilepsy research. His abstract, “Development of a model using automated volumetric analysis of preoperative volume loss to predict seizure outcomes after frontal lobectomy,” was selected from over 1,100 submissions for this honor. It comes with a $1,200 stipend, and Dr. Whiting will be presenting his work at the annual meeting in December.
Jakub Godzik, MD
Jakub Godzik, MD, a PGY-7 neurosurgery resident at Barrow, was awarded the best abstract for young surgeons at the Society for Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery/Society of Lateral Access Surgery Annual Forum ’20. The award was for his paper, “Single-Position Prone-Lateral Approach: Cadaveric Feasibility and Early Surgical Clinical Experience.” The prone lateral approach to the lumbar spine is something few centers have been able to perform. Dr. Godzik thanked his co-authors: Ifije Ohiorhenuan, MD, PhD; Bernardo De Andrada, MD; David Xu, MD; Corey Walker, MD; Alex Whiting, MD; Jay Turner, MD, PhD; and Juan Uribe, MD.
Tyler Cole, MD
Tyler Cole, MD, a PGY-6 neurosurgery resident at Barrow, received two awards from the Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS). He was awarded Best Operative Technique – Cerebrovascular for his abstract “In Vivo Preclinical Quantitative Flow Analysis of Arterial Anastomosis Using a Microvascular Anastomotic Coupler and Clinical Application for Extracranial-to-Intracranial Bypass.” He worked on the project with Drs. Michael Lawton and Mark Preul. Dr. Cole received the Best Clinical Research Award – CSNS for his abstract “Access to Neurosurgery in the Era of Narrowing Insurance Networks: Statewide Analysis of Accountable Care Act Marketplace Plans in Arizona, USA”. He worked on this project with Dr. Luis Tumialán.
