Andrew T. Hale, M.D., Ph.D., a PGY6 resident in the University of Alabama at Birmingham Department of Neurosurgery, has been selected to receive the Academy Award for Best Manuscript from the American Academy of Neurological Surgery for his paper, “Integrated genomic-phenomic taxonomy of brain arteriovenous malformations.”
Hale will present his award-winning manuscript at the American Academy of Neurological Surgery’s 2026 Annual Meeting, scheduled for Sept. 27-30 in Ojai, California.
The Academy Award, which dates back to 1955, recognizes the top scientific manuscript submitted to the organization. Hale’s paper received the highest score from the review committee among a highly competitive field of submissions from neurosurgery residents across the country.
Hale’s study addresses one of the most consequential and least understood problems in cerebrovascular neurosurgery: why some brain arteriovenous malformations (bAVMs) present and rupture early in life and how to identify the patients who might benefit from the first genotype-directed medical therapies for the disease. Many bAVMs cannot be safely cured by surgery, radiosurgery or embolization, and no approved medical therapy currently exists.
Working under the mentorship of Kristopher T. Kahle, M.D., Ph.D. at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School and alongside collaborators at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Boston Children’s Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital and Yale, Hale's team assembled and harmonized the largest integrated genomic-phenomic cohort of sporadic bAVMs to date. He also developed an endovascular-enabled approach to detect the pathogenic mutation without surgical resection of the bAVM. Together, their findings reframe sporadic bAVMs as a genetically stratified, pharmacologically tractable disease and nominate KRAS-mutant pediatric high-grade bAVMs as the highest-priority population for targeted clinical trials.
The Academy Award is considered the most prestigious scientific recognition available to a neurosurgery resident and highlights excellence in research and scholarly achievement within the specialty.
Hale’s selection as recipient of this award reflects both the quality of his research and the potential impact of his work.