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News & Publications

News & Publications

Upcoming Events: 

Georgia Neurosurgical Society Fall 2024 Meeting

  • December 7-8, 2024
  • Ritz-Carlton Reynolds, Lake Oconee, GA
Website

75th Southern Neurosurgical Society Annual Meeting

  • February 5–8, 2025
  • JW Marriott Marco Island, Marco Island, FL

75th Annual Meeting of the Southern Neurosurgical Society for an innovative program focused on embracing the wave of the future.

Website

2025 American Association of Neurological Surgeons Annual Scientific Meeting

  • April 25-28, 2025
  • Boston

This year’s theme, Power of One, Impact of Many, celebrates the individual contributions that collectively advance the field of neurosurgery

Website

Georgia Neurosurgical Society Spring 2025 Meeting

  • May 23-25, 2025
  • The Cloister, Sea Island, GA
Website

Fall 2024 News

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 (Septmeber). 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, recieved a promotion to Lieutenant Commander (LCDR, O4) in the Navy

brains

 

August

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

  •  Luca H. Debs, MD, Scott Y. Rahimi, MD & Fernando Vale, MD give presentation at Southern Neurosurgical Society in Orlando, FL. The Tipping Point in Middle Meningeal Artery Embolization: A Cost Effectiveness Analysis.
  • Luca Debs receives Young Surgeon Grant for the 74th Southern Neurosurgical Society Annual Meeting.
  • C Carr, J Wang, H Singh, D Brann gave a presentation titled Dasatinib Plus Quercetin: an Overview of Clinical Trial Data for a Drug with a Potential Role in Traumatic Brain Injury at the Medical College of Georgia Neurosurgery Research Lab Meeting.
  • Christopher Carr give presentation titled Mediterranean Diet and Evidence-Based Medicine at the Fort Eisenhower Naval Reserve Center Health Promotions Lecture Series.

February

 

January

  • Residents David Baker and Christopher Carr gave a presentation about Cranial Nerves at the Medical College of Georgia Neurosurgery Grand Rounds
  • Christopher Carr gave a presentation titled The Science of Weight Management at Fort Eisenhower Naval Reserve Center Health Promotions Lecture Series
 
  • 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 . 
Meet Mark N. Hadley    
 
June
  • 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

 

Rutkowski and Baban

Dr. Martin Rutkowski and Dr. Babak Baban

 

Marijuana ingredient could be therapy for a deadly brain tumor, Augusta University finds.

One of the active ingredients in marijuana and hemp could show promise in fighting a deadly and aggressive brain tumor, said researchers at Augusta University. It could help target an immune-blocking enzyme first discovered at the school more than 20 years ago...

read more 

Epilepsy patient news

(left to right) Rachel Poston, PA-C, Fernando Vale, MD, James Smith (Patient) , Debra Moore-hill, MD, MPH , Smith's Grandmother 

 

“I was terrified, but laughter is the best medicine”: Special haircut helps North Florida man prepare for brain surgery

“If I can inspire someone to find the humor in that bad situation, no matter what they’re going through,” James Smith said. “You got to be positive. There’s sunshine after the rain.”

Smith said he’s now living every day without fear of another seizure.

 

VIDEO OF JAMES SMITH

 

 

Previous Issues (PDF Format)

Jagnews

Soldier receives aid sitting in helicopter

MCG researcher says combat blasts caused injury to brain-cleansing system

Read story
Two men in white coats stand in front of a scan showing a brain tumor

CBD reduces glioblastoma’s size, supportive environment in experimental model

Read story
Two doctors in white coats lead a group of younger doctors in blue scrubs through a hospital hallway

Inaugural neurology and neurosurgery symposium planned for Oct. 2

Read story


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