Never before has there been such fertile ground in developing Health Services Research, Global Health, and Quality & Safety in Pediatric Neurosurgery. Currently, we are accepting applications for funded positions for neurosurgery residents in North America to spend 1-2 years with our team to do specialized health services, global health, and/or quality/safety research in pediatric neurosurgery as Research Scholars.
 
Whether it is working with one of the longest running and most active multidisciplinary spina bifida programs in the country, the Chicago Center for Fetal Medicine, the Healthy Communities initiative, Northwestern's Institute for Public Health and Medicine, Northwestern's Institute for Global Health, Center for Education in Health Studies, the Smith Child Health Research, Outreach, and Advocacy Center, and the highly ranked Northwestern Department of Neurosurgery, collaborative opportunities abound for research scholars and trainees joining our team.
We understand that health is more than healthcare. As Lurie Children's mission is to improve the health and well-being in children, we in Pediatric Neurosurgery believe in expanding our sights beyond perfecting neurosurgical technique and beyond discoveries in the basic science labs. Building bridges across all pillars of pediatric research will translate discoveries from bench to bedside, to the population and into policy to help all children.
For instance, we want to know why patients have difficulties getting to neurosurgical attention, when we know we have surgical solutions to offer for diseases like epilepsy. At Lurie Children's, leaders like Dr. Matt Davis, chairman of pediatrics, leads funded community initiatives to work within and outside the walls of the hospital in partnership with community leaders and organizations, knowing that life expectancy at birth can vary by 17 years depending on the neighborhood in Chicago. We will partner with such initiatives to expand the reach of neurosurgery, so that we can characterize and understand disparities, barriers in access to care, and predictors of outcomes that go beyond surgical technique; taking it a step further, the community and state partnerships will allow a forum for intervention and building models for effective, inclusive care.
That is one example above; other projects as well as global health opportunities are also in the works.
 
We invite neurosurgery residents in North America to spend 1-2 years with our team to do specialized health services, global health, and/or quality/safety research in pediatric neurosurgery as funded Research Scholars. This pediatric-neurosurgery-specific forum is the first of its kind. We also have visiting research and observership positions for international colleagues to learn about pediatric neurosurgery at Lurie Children's as we work on studying neurosurgical healthcare delivery both locally, nationally, and globally.
Our funded initiatives in epilepsy and spina bifida will be a start, and we will develop within this rich, socially-responsible, active research community to work toward the promise of a cure, the promise of safer space, and the promise of a healthier future.
 
Learn more and apply by contacting slam@luriechildrens.org

I am grateful to have the opportunity to work with neurosurgery colleagues around the world. This summer, I was invited to travel to Taipei to help in a case of a child with rapid decline and worsening intractable epilepsy. A multi-institutional and multidisciplinary epilepsy surgery conference was held, and the consensus was to offer hemispherectomy surgery. I operated with her local neurosurgeons, applying the minimally invasive endoscopic hemispherotomy technique I have published. This week, the girl and her family held a press conference with her team at the National Taiwan University Children's Hospital. I was able to teleconference in: she waved brightly and said thank you to me. That is the most wonderful Thanksgiving message I can remember. 

Story in Chinese here. 

Thank you to the team at Lurie Children's for their support! 

Houstonia Magazine highlighted top 5 breakthrough developments in the Texas Medical Center this year: it is an honor to report that my work in endoscopic hemispherotomy surgery for epilepsy is one of them.
 
Click here to see the feature by Morgan Kinney in the August 2019 issue of Houstonia. 

TMC Pulse magazine did a wonderful feature on a boy and his family, telling their story leading up to his endoscopic hemispherotomy as well as life after the surgery. 

​We have a new epilepsy surgery offering to our patients: endoscopic hemispherectomy.

I am excited to see how remarkably well patients recover after endoscopic surgery! Unlike traditional open hemispherectomy/hemispherotomy surgery which involves a large craniotomy (skull bone opening) and a large question-mark-shaped incision on the top and side of the head to disconnect the left hemisphere from the right hemisphere, I can perform the hemispherectomy surgery through a small opening and with the help of an endoscope – a camera used in the procedure. The scar involves only a small opening at the top of the head. This smaller access surgery translates to less blood loss, less pain/discomfort, and quicker recovery.

This type of surgery is relatively novel, as it has been reported by only two other centers in the world - one in India and one in Detroit. 
 
This type of minimal access surgery to treat seizures fits with our program's expertise with minimally invasive surgery and enhanced recovery, and expands the comprehensive offering of our multidisciplinary comprehensive pediatric epilepsy surgery program. We focus on delivering individualized care -- offering the right diagnostic workup, the right treatment, the right surgical plan tailored for each patient.
 
This new endoscopic surgery application was possible with intricate understanding of anatomy with my experience with open hemispherectomy surgeries, which I have written about in textbooks. Recently, I have spent time developing and perfecting these minimal-access surgical approaches in the anatomy lab, anticipating and working out all contingencies before offering this novel endoscopic surgery to patients.
 
While the epilepsy surgery program in my group has been known for laser ablation surgeries and traditional open surgeries, we continue to learn from our collective experience. We recognize that not every disease process or surgical goal can be addressed with the laser. There was room for development of better surgical techniques – something in between a laser and a traditional open surgery. Incorporating the use of a camera – the endoscope – gave a way to see what I need to see, while allowing for a smaller opening to safely achieve what needed to be done in surgery.

Epilepsy surgeries I offer through an endoscope include corpus callosotomy and hemispherectomy. 

Illustration developed with our talented medical illustrator, Kathy Relyea. 

Healthcare reform is a crucial issue.
While much debate surrounds government finances, I am most concerned about our children's health. 
Click here to read my blog post in #NeurosurgeryBlog, a forum for health policy. 

Being thankful is, in my mind, a way of life. Life is too short and precious for negativity. I was delighted to find this Washington Post article, which provides affirmation on the practice of gratitude. ​

People who practice daily gratitude tend to be happier and healthier. 
In this article, reporter Colby Itkowitz interviews researcher Robert Emmons, who studies gratitude. I love the comments. They capture the essence of an approach to life that has gotten me through a lot of good times and tough times. 
"Gratitude is too good to be left at the Thanksgiving table. I believe that gratitude is the best approach to life. When life is going well, it allows us to celebrate and magnify the goodness. When life is going badly, it provides a perspective by which we can view life in its entirety and not be overwhelmed by temporary circumstances. People who live under an “aura of pervasive thankfulness” reap the rewards of grateful living; conversely, those who fail to feel gratitude cheat themselves out of their experience of life. And why would we want to cheat ourselves?
This approach that needs to be cultivated, it’s not going to come easily or automatically. This is when gratitude displays its power and potential. This is when we need to press into our sources of gratitude more deeply — family, faith, freedom — all those circumstances, people, opportunities that we give thanks for each and every day, not just on the fourth Thursday of November." 
Futher, Emmons comments on dealing with stress and negativity: 
"Indeed, gratitude rescues us from negativity. Left to their own devices, our minds tend to hijack each and every opportunity for happiness. Negativity, entitlement, resentfulness, forgetfulness, ungratefulness all clamor for our attention.  Whether stemming from our own internal thoughts or to the daily news headlines, we are exposed to a constant drip of negativity. Doom and gloom is on the horizon, as financial fears, relational turmoil and health challenges threaten us. Weighed down by negativity, we are worn down, worn out, emotionally and physically exhausted.... We need to constantly and regularly create and take in positive experiences. Gratitude is our best weapon, an ally to counter these internal and external threats that rob us of sustainable joy. In gratitude, we focus on the giftedness of life. We affirm that goodness exists, even among the rancor of daily life. This realization itself is freeing, liberating, redeeming. Gratitude works!" 

What are you thankful for? Make a list every day. Practice gratitude. Your mind, your health, your friends, your family, your future self will thank you for it. 

I am thankful for the trust and the faith from my patients and their families. One of my patient's mothers shared her inspiring story in Woman's World magazine, on the newsstands Thanksgiving week. This amazing family reminds us to count our blessings, as they do every day. After epilepsy surgery, little Noah has been seizure-free for over 2 years and counting. It is wonderful to see him grow up and to celebrate his #brainiversary! Read Noah, Mallory, and Craig's story here.