Explore UAB

The UAB Cleft and Craniofacial Center at Children’s of Alabama is now home to the only American Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association-approved teams in the state. The center’s cleft team and craniofacial team both recently received approval from the ACPA, making its comprehensive program the first of its kind to receive this distinction in Alabama.

According to the Associate Press, pharmaceutical company Mustang Bio, Inc. and Nationwide Children’s Hospital announced this week that they have entered into an exclusive worldwide license agreement to develop C134 – the attenuated herpes simplex virus developed for the treatment of glioblastoma multiforme by UAB Department of Neurosurgery Chair James Markert, M.D., MPH, in collaboration with Nationwide’s Kevin Cassady, M.D.

Of this year’s UAB Service Award honorees, nine are faculty or staff members from the Department of Neurosurgery, including Office Associate Martee Posey-Dawson who will be recognized at the annual Service Awards luncheon on March 1 for her 20 year-tenure at UAB.

Division of Pediatric Neurosurgery Director Jeffrey Blount, M.D., hit the slopes last Thursday with a long-time patient, 8-year-old Thomas Summers, according to Park City, Utah, newspaper the Park Record.

UAB Department of Neurosurgery residents Elizabeth Kuhn, M.D., and Jacob Lepard, M.D., were recently named the recipients of two research awards for abstracts they submitted for presentation at the 2019 American Association of Neurological Surgeons Annual Scientific Meeting.

Libby Hancock, a pediatric neurosurgery patient at Children's of Alabama, was born with cerebral palsy and a seizure disorder. As part of her therapy, Hancock began learning needlepoint at age 9. 

By Marina Moody 

The UAB Department of Neurosurgery held its 35th Annual J. Garber Galbraith, M.D., Scientific Session and Lecture on Nov. 9 in the West Pavilion Conference Center.

Dr. Kristen Riley is honored for her recent promotion to the rank of professor at the Nov. 15, 2018, Women in Science and Medicine Promotion Reception in the Partridge Atrium at the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center.

The UAB Department of Neurosurgery's Kristen Riley, M.D., was recognized for her recent promotion to the rank of professor at the Nov. 15 Women in Science and Medicine Promotion Reception in the Partridge Atrium at the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center.

By Marina Moody

Fifth-year Department of Neurosurgery resident Jacob Lepard, M.D., and his family recently returned home from the Cure Children’s Hospital of Uganda, where Lepard served for two months as part of a global surgery fellowship, jointly hosted by UAB and the Harvard Medical School's Program in Global Surgery and Social Change, and worked daily assisting in research protocol design and attending patient home visits.

Norine Wilson plays with her grandchildren in the yard, an activity she is now able to do after receiving spine surgery from UAB neurosurgeon Dr. Mamerhi Okor in June 2017. (Photo courtesy of Norine Wilson)

Norine Wilson says she’s never been the type to sit around and wait on anything. After living with chronic pain in her back and legs for more than a year and meeting with physicians who suggested only short-term treatments, she was ready for a real solution.

Dr. Jianmei Leavenworth

By Marina Moody

Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery Jainmei Wu Leavenworth, M.D., Ph.D., recently received the Comprehensive Cancer Center’s Young Supporters Board New Faculty Development Award. Leavenworth was awarded $50,000 for her project “Contribution of a new subset of NK cells to antitumor immunity.” Her research focuses on the mobilization of effector cells, such as natural killer cells, to mediate cooperative antitumor responses.

By Marina Moody

The multi-site Canine Immunoneurotherapeutics Trial, led by the Department of Neurosurgery’s Renee Chambers, D.V.M., M.D., at UAB and funded by the Beau Biden Cancer Moonshot program through the National Cancer Institute’s Center for Cancer Research, was recently mentioned in the NCI News Briefing and in a news story from Auburn University’s College of Veterinary Medicine.

By Marina Moody

Dr. James Markert

UAB Department of Neurosurgery Chair James Markert, M.D., M.P,H., was recently awarded an R01 grant from the National Cancer Institute for his research project, “Oncolytic Immunotherapy Using Chimeric HSV C134: A Phase I Trial and Establishment of Response Indicators in Recurrent Glioma Patients.” The project focuses on the effects of C134, a genetically engineered virus, in patients with recurrent malignant glioma. Markert hypothesizes that the virus will both directly kill the tumor cells through viral replication and secondarily kill tumor cells by inciting an antitumor response. The project was awarded $586,155 in funding.

Dr. Kristen Riley
Dr. Brandon G. Rocque

By Marina Moody

The Department of Neurosurgery’s Kristen Riley, M.D., and Brandon G. Rocque, M.D., have been promoted to professor and associate professor, respectively.

As of October 1, the Section of Pediatric Neurosurgery within the UAB Department of Neurosurgery is now a division. The new Division of Pediatric Neurosurgery is the first division to be named under the Department of Neurosurgery.

UAB neurosurgeon Mark N. Hadley, M.D., was recently chosen as the recipient of the 2018 Congress of Neurological Surgeons Distinguished Service Award. Hadley was honored by the CNS at the organization’s 65th Annual Meeting in Houston, Texas, on Oct. 9 and officially received this award at the meeting’s General Scientific Session III: “Systems and Teams as a Means to Extend Human Performance.”

According to the CNS, the Distinguished Service Award is the most prestigious award that the organization can bestow on an individual.

Dr. Mark Hadley

Hadley, who serves as the Charles A. and Patsy W. Collat Endowed Professor of Neurosurgery at UAB and as a professor in the UAB Department of Neurosurgery, has been an active leader in the CNS for more than 30 years. In 2003, he served as the president of the CNS, and from 1997-2000, served as its secretary. Hadley has served on the Editorial Board of the CNS journal, Neurosurgery, since 1999 and currently serves in an executive advisory role to the editor on the Neurosurgery Publishing Task Force as chair of the Neurosurgery Advisory Committee. From 1994-2004, he served on the CNS Executive Committee, and from 1992-1999, on the Executive Committee of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons/CNS Section on Disorders of the Spine and Peripheral Nerves. Hadley also served as a member of the AANS/CNS Washington Committee from 2001-2003.

“The Congress of Neurological Surgeons, one the world’s largest neurosurgical member service organizations with more than 8,000 members, is a leader in innovative educational programs and opportunities for neurosurgeons worldwide,” Hadley said. “True to its roots, the CNS has an equal-opportunity governance structure for all neurosurgeons, including those in training. Based on a meritocracy, the CNS offers professional development for young neurosurgeons—even those yet to be board certified—teaching, encouraging and promoting them to leadership roles for service in our field. I have greatly enjoyed my more-than-30-year membership and participation in the Congress of Neurological Surgeons and am deeply honored to receive this prestigious award.”

Hadley is considered a nationally and internationally recognized expert in the care and surgical treatment of patients with spinal cord tumors and spinal column pathology, including congenital anomalies, traumatic spinal cord injuries, fractures of the spinal vertebrae, degenerative spinal diseases, disc herniations, spinal stenosis, spinal reconstruction and fusion procedures of the entire spinal column. He performs an average of 300 such procedures a year.

Dr. James Markert

“Dr. Mark Hadley has been a dedicated member of a wide variety of neurosurgical organizations over the course of his career and, through his hard work and creativity in these areas, has made many contributions to our specialty,” said UAB Department of Neurosurgery Chair James Markert, M.D., M.P.H. “In particular, his work for the CNS has been vast, and he has helped shape this organization and its relationship to many of our other organizations. I can’t think of a more deserving individual for this award.”

Hadley is a true surgeon-scientist; treating hundreds of patients each year, studying their outcomes and other vital research issues in neurosurgery. He has published more than 200 scientific manuscripts in the literature and is the recipient of federal funding for human spinal cord injury research.

Hadley is also active in medical student and resident education and has served as the Department of Neurosurgery’s residency training program director for 19 years, helping to develop it into the highly competitive and sought-after neurosurgery training program that it is today. He remains committed to a number of leadership organizations within the field of neurosurgery and recently completed a six-year term as a director of the American Board of Neurological Surgery. This fall, Hadley was recognized as the Alden March Outstanding Surgical Alumnus Awardee from his medical school, Albany Medical College in New York.

Becker’s Spine Review recently featured UAB in its list of the highest-scoring hospitals in Neurology and Neurosurgery, according to the 2018 U.S. News and World Report Best Hospitals rankings. Organized by state, the list named UAB Hospital’s Neurology and Neurosurgery program the highest-scoring in Alabama. UAB Neurology and Neurosurgery was ranked No. 36 nationally by U.S. News in the report released last month, marking the fifth consecutive year the Department of Neurosurgery has ranked in the top 50 Neurology and Neurosurgery programs in the country.

U.S. News and World Report’s 2018 Best Hospitals report ranks UAB Neurology and Neurosurgery No. 36 in the nation, marking the fifth consecutive year the Department of Neurosurgery has ranked in the top 50 Neurology and Neurosurgery programs in the country.

Dr. Nicole Bentley

The Department of Neurosurgery welcomes a new assistant professor this month with the addition of Nicole J. Bentley, M.D., a neurosurgeon-scientist focused on functional and movement disorders. Bentley comes to UAB from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, where she completed a functional neurosurgery fellowship.

As one of Tammy Sharp’s nominators wrote her letter of recommendation for Employee of the Month, it was 7:30 p.m. Friday, and Sharp was still at the office — not unusual for someone known to colleagues for being dedicated and passionate about her work.