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Looking back - here is a small collection of podcasts about pediatric neurosurgery. It is an honor and privilege to live a life of sharing and caring: I am most grateful for this space and time.
Lam S. Patrick's Journey: Transforming Lives Through Pediatric Neurosurgery. Lurie Children's Precision podcast. June 2025. https://www.luriechildrens.org/en/precision-podcast/patricks-journey-transforming-lives-through-pediatric-neurosurgery/ Lam S. Helping Families Navigate Drug-Resistant Pediatric Epilepsy with Dr. Sandi Lam. Lurie Children's Precision podcast. Nov 2024. https://www.luriechildrens.org/en/precision-podcast/helping-families-navigatedrug-resistant-pediatric-epilepsy-with-dr.-sandi-lam Lam S. Facets of leadership in pediatric neurosurgery. Insights in pediatric neurosurgery podcast. Dec 2023. https://podcasts.apple.com/bz/podcast/facets-of-leadership-in-pediatric-neurosurgery/id1614006948?i=1000638587579 Lam S. CURE Epilepsy X PAME Partners Against Mortality in Epilepsy. Oct 26, 2023. https://cureepilepsy.org/webinars/webinar-surgical-treatment-options-as-tools-to-reduce-the-risk-of-mortality-in-epilepsy/ Lam S and Murphy R. The path to global neurosurgery. Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine Robert J Havey MD Institute of Global Health podcast. https://www.globalhealth.northwestern.edu/events/podcast/lam.html or https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cD5TW1UGb-s . August 2023 Lam S and Kolcun JP. Getting back to the world (global neurosurgery). Neurosurgery Podcast, #94. April 2022. https://soundcloud.com/user-838542034/episode-94-getting-back-to-the-world Veteran award-winning documentary filmmaker Ken Kobre's most recent work, "Life with Half a Brain," is a one-hour documentary about patients and families living their journey with seizures, seeking surgical care for epilepsy, undergoing epilepsy surgery, and aiming to live life to the fullest after surgery. We intersect when my patients and their families shared their story with hemispherectomy surgery in the hopes of helping others.
Thank you, Ken, for sharing the incredible stories and for highlighting the hope and humanity in our lives. Life With Half A Brain Available for free streaming on TubiTV or for rent on Amazon Prime. Full feature documentary, released Oct 2024. 58 minute run time. AmazonPrime: https://www.primevideo.com/detail/Life-with-Half-a-Brain/0G0R8O7MGEUDSF8XR84NTVSBNB TubiTV Free streaming platform: https://tubitv.com/movies/100031528/life-with-half-a-brain :Honored and grateful to receive recognition from the International Women Associates to be the recipient of the 2024 Woman Extraordinaire Award. The IWA group recognizes individuals who have a body of work with global impact, with past recipients being influential entrepreneurs, advocates, and policy leaders such as Senator Tammy Duckworth. I am grateful to be able to advance pediatric neurosurgery and epilepsy surgery care in the US and around the world with what I do now: leading the pediatric neurosurgery division at Lurie Children's Hospital in Chicago, spearheading multicenter PCORI-sponsored patient-centered research, and building sustainable pediatric healthcare solutions with my collaborators in Uganda and subSaharan Africa. See pictures from the event from Classic Chicago magazine.
 This is an important landmark - and the only the beginning to more advocacy work around the world.
Folate fortification is only in 23% of countries globally in the year 2023. With appropriate levels of folate fortification in the prenatal period, it is estimated that >300,000 births with neural tube defects such as spina bifida and anencephaly can be prevented every year around the world. Neurosurgeons joined together with global surgeons, public health experts, advocates, geneticists, food scientists, and so many more stakeholders such as my colleagues in the GAPSBIF alliance to advocate for successful support of this resolution at WHA76. --- Repost of a terrific message from stakeholder partner, the International Federation for Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus: It is with great pleasure that we announce that The seventy-sixth World Health Assembly has voted to adopt the resolution “Accelerating efforts for preventing micronutrient deficiencies and their consequences, including spina bifida and other neural tube defects, through safe and effective food fortification”. This is a tremendous achievement for the global SBH community. This WHO resolution is unique as it combines policies to approach a serious public health crisis with a holistic approach. Combining perspectives from the fields of disability rights, health care and nutrition. Tapping on a global momentum to make a real impact on public health. Read the IF Press Release here. IF, together with partners, and most importantly with IF Members worked together to make this important resolution a reality. In this moment of celebration IF would like to thank you for your extraordinary effort, passion and dedication to the advocacy for this resolution. IF members have been instrumental in reaching national policy makers in effort to get their national governments to support the initiative. The campaign for the WHA Resolution has raised awareness of the importance of cross-sectoral collaborations for public health policies advocacy. To recognise the vital role that each stakeholder has in furthering not only knowledge and awareness but most importantly, achieving policy action. A core principle of disability rights is ‘nothing about us, without us’ and this principle is enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD). During the course of the advocacy for a WHA resolution on large scale food fortification of staple foods with folic acid, the involvement of persons with lived experiences through their representative organisations proved to be an advantage and not just an obligation. The adoption of the WHA Resolution is a moment for celebration. But it is also just the beginning. Moving forward, continued advocacy will be essential in order to ensure effective implementation of the resolution. It is vital that IF and you as Member Associations continue to be involved in the decision making processes regarding policies to reduce the prevalence of spina bifida and other neural tube defects to ensure that these policies are implemented in ways that effectively reach all sections of society and without stigmatising the global SBH community. For increased awareness of the resolution and to begin the campaign for its implementation, IF will continue its advocacy during and after the WHA.  Register here.
Hotel accommodation included with registration. Official course website and updates on course information here. Inquiries: [email protected] I am thrilled to host this event again. There is no other platform for learning and discussing minimally invasive surgical approaches in pediatric neurosurgery. Here, we have a group of pediatric neurosurgeons who love operating. All have had advanced training in minimally invasive neurosurgery, and have gone on to push the frontiers of the field to achieve better and better outcomes for patients. For instance, we cover: eyebrow craniotomies and other keyhole approaches in children flexible and rigid neuroendoscopy for tumor, cysts, and hydrocephalus neuroendoscopic lavage endoscopic tumor and epilepsy surgeries fetoscopic techniques minimally invasive spine and functional & more! Register here: https://www.luriechildrens.org/en/events/minimally-invasive-approaches-in-pediatric-neurosurgery--a-didactic-case-based-and-hands-on-course/ We have a great faculty group. Participants last year from the US, South America, and Europe gave rave reviews of the interactive format with a mixture of didactics, case discussions, and hands-on anatomy labs. Two participants even met their future employer and senior partners at the course. This is an exciting annual event that will be a wonderful venue for pediatric neurosurgery & neurosurgery for years to come!  In a follow-up to our ongoing initiative with CURE Uganda to develop and elevate pediatric epilepsy care, we congratulate our first global cohort of 10 doctors who completed ASET/Lurie Children's EEG curriculum! We are now engaging in epilepsy conference for case selection for pediatric epilepsy surgery.
It is remarkable how COVID has normalized the use of virtual online collaboration. In our isolation of social distancing and aborted travel during the pandemic, we were able to connect regularly and develop academic and educations experiences that never existed previously. The meaning and the Joy in Work that our teams derived from such a connection over pediatric epilepsy program development was unanticipated. We would not change a minute of it! Read about our journey at the Lurie Children's blog here. Listen to my journey at the Neurosurgery podcast here. Amazing people come together to do amazing things. I have witnessed this through our Global Epilepsy initiative at Lurie Children's and CURE Uganda. The goal was to elevate the offerings of epilepsy care in the region with knowledge and skill transfer in epilepsy surgery, which can produce a surgical cure for seizures in well-selected patients especially with lesional epilepsy. My decade-long relationship with colleagues in subSaharan Africa has only increased my respect and confidence in the surgical skill and dedication of pediatric neurosurgeons like Dr. Emmanuel Wegoye and Dr. Humphrey Okechi. With their service to babies born with congenital neurological problems, these children are now living longer, and facing quality of life issues in chronic diseases such as epilepsy and spasticity. There are an estimated 1000 pediatric patients in the Mbale area who are taking antiseizure medications, who have never received a diagnostic imaging test nor an electroencephalogram (EEG). Without these, we cannot tell if they may benefit from, or be cured with epilepsy surgery. Where do we start? The Lurie Children's EEG team has a successful, established Neurodiagnostic Trechnology training program, fully meeting ABRET accreditation standards. There is donated EEG equipment at CURE. There are no EEG technicians or pediatric neurologists in that part of Uganda. There are many patients in need.abret.org/index.php With these realities in mind, the Lurie Children's Neurodiagnostic technology training program was redesigned to be 24 weeks long, with the goal of producing EEGs on patients in 6 weeks., then further refining skills and troubleshooting over time. The training material and online education portals were donated by the Global Initiative of the Neurodiagnostic Society (ASET), while the twice-a-week hands-on training (by Zoom!) has been conducted by the Lurie Children's team with 10 medical officers and neurosurgeons in Mbale, Uganda. Read more here. Identifying the lateralize, lesional cases is one of the first practical goals. We engage in multidisciplinary epilepsy case conference online and work toward safe, effective pediatric epilepsy surgery care in Uganda and the region. So proud of this initiative - the world is a small, engaged, wonderful place even in the pandemic. We are grateful for this opportunity help make a difference that will continue to grow in impact into the future.  Key facts from the WHO about Epilepsy:
 I have had the honor of working in amazing families to learn about their epilepsy journeys and to develop informative on-demand webinars to address frequently asked questions. November is Epilepsy Awareness Month, which provides a spotlight for a journey that we work on every single day of every year. #LetsTalkAboutEpilepsySurgery is a terrific initiative started by Monika Jones JD at the Brain Recovery Project. I was honored to take part and discuss different types of epilepsy surgery for families approaching and considering these options for the first time. This is a great resource with a repository of a series of webinars with surgeons, epileptologists, providers, and advocates for pediatric epilepsy.
Neurostimulation is also a surgical option that is offering hope to those who may not have been considered surgical candidates before. My brilliant epilepsy colleague Dr. Joyce Wu and I joined Shae's mom along with Gabrielle Conecker and JayEtta Hecker of DEE-P Connections for a deep dive discussion in this webinar about Stimulators: Could a VNS, DBS, or RNS help?
I am grateful for the privilege of working with children and their amazing families. They inspire me every day. It is incredible that my minimally invasive endoscopic epilepsy surgery program has been able to help many young children and young adults. Baby Aurora's family shares their uplifting story and experience with endoscopic hemispherotomy. They traveled across country borders and state lines, and they felt that they were in the right place. The feeling is mutual. Ready about them in "Pediatric Neurosurgeon Halts Baby's Seizures with Minimally Invasive Brain Surgery."  |
Pediatric Neurosurgery teamThings we are passionate about Archives
July 2025
Other linksmy TCH blog post on - organizing your medical records for doctor's appointments - Craniosynostosis 101 our patients' moms blog about their family's - epilepsy surgery journey - craniosynostosis surgery journey some of our inspiring patient and family stories in the news: - epilepsy surgery - craniofacial surgery - AVM surgery Cross-post & links to my posts on other sitesUpdates on pediatric cerebrovascular disease in #NeurosurgeryBlog
Comments on health policy, pediatric neurosurgery, and the Affordable Care Act in the #NeurosurgeryBlog Sharing on the "ask-the-doctor" series on the Children's Craniofacial Association's blog - helmet FAQs: after endoscopic craniosynostosis surgery - helmet FAQs: positional plagiocephaly 
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