Message from the Chair
It is an absolute honor and pleasure to welcome you to the Department of Neurosurgery.
We take great pride in our top-notch faculty who are committed to research and teaching medical students and residents. We are consistently ranked as one of the nation’s top hospitals for neurosurgery and are firmly dedicated to providing state-of-the-art, compassionate patient care, conducting pioneering research, and training the next generation of neurosurgeons. Loyola University Health System is a quaternary care, Level-1 Trauma hospital that provides comprehensive neurosurgical care to patients locally, nationally, and throughout the world.
There are countless, ongoing research projects that span clinical to basic science investigation, including skull base, cerebrovascular/endovascular, neuro-oncology, spine, pediatrics, functional, and trauma. Through our collaborations with basic scientists at Stritch and Loyola Medicine, including those with NIH R01 and other intramural and extramural funding, we are conducting pioneering, multidisciplinary research to hopefully improve outcomes of individuals suffering from brain and spine tumors, strokes, hemorrhages, spinal deformities, epilepsy, and movement disorders, among other devastating neurological conditions. Our faculty are involved in discerning the role of skull base tumor genetics with the pathophysiology of these tumors, developing machine learning models to predict tumor characteristics and surgical complications, understanding the role of the surrounding milieu with glioblastoma pathogenesis, identifying the molecular composition of radiation- induced meningiomas, evaluating patient outcomes from minimally-invasive brain bleed evacuations, developing individualized, preoperative instrumentation to correct spinal deformity, creating leading edge technology to help neck and back pain, and numerous other projects.
Our team routinely publishes over 75 peer-reviewed articles, textbooks, and chapters annually and delivers hundreds of local, regional, and national/international lectures at organized neurosurgery meetings throughout the world. We have a weekly Educational Conference and didactic conferences focused on research and recently published journal articles every other week. As importantly, we educate our trainees and medical students about the importance of the non-technical aspects of being a neurosurgeon. There are myriad opportunities for medical students to participate and we encourage them to get involved with faculty and resident research projects, attend departmental conferences, and participate in Stritch’s Student Chapter of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons and Neurosurgery Interest Group (NSIG).
The department offers an M4 sub-internship to Stritch students as well as qualified students from other medical schools. The majority of students completing the four-week sub-internship are applying for neurosurgery residency, but we welcome anyone interested in learning more about the field. The sub-internship is a strong educational experience, as rotating students will gain meaningful knowledge of neurosurgical disease processes and build skills, including conducting the neurological examination and interpreting radiological studies. Assisting with bedside procedures (such as ventriculostomies and lumbar drains) and with surgical procedures in the operating room are integral parts of the rotation. Sub-interns are assigned to the inpatient neurosurgical service at Loyola University Medical Center and generally will work with every resident and attending during the rotation; time is devoted primarily to inpatient care in the Neuroscience ICU and floor, as well as in the OR. Students also will receive some exposure to the outpatient clinic. To gain full exposure to patient care, we encourage sub-interns to take in-house call with neurosurgery residents one night per week. Near the end of the rotation, sub-interns are asked to give a 10-minute presentation on a neurosurgical topic of their choice.
We are so excited to highlight our achievements as you learn more about our department. We invite you to contact us so we can share more information about the many opportunities available for trainees. We look forward to meeting with you, introducing our team, and helping you learn more about this department’s incredible work.
Anand V. Germanwala, MD
Interim Chair, Department of Neurological Surgery
Professor
Residency Program Director
It is an absolute honor and pleasure to welcome you to the Department of Neurosurgery.
We take great pride in our top-notch faculty who are committed to research and teaching medical students and residents. We are consistently ranked as one of the nation’s top hospitals for neurosurgery and are firmly dedicated to providing state-of-the-art, compassionate patient care, conducting pioneering research, and training the next generation of neurosurgeons. Loyola University Health System is a quaternary care, Level-1 Trauma hospital that provides comprehensive neurosurgical care to patients locally, nationally, and throughout the world.
There are countless, ongoing research projects that span clinical to basic science investigation, including skull base, cerebrovascular/endovascular, neuro-oncology, spine, pediatrics, functional, and trauma. Through our collaborations with basic scientists at Stritch and Loyola Medicine, including those with NIH R01 and other intramural and extramural funding, we are conducting pioneering, multidisciplinary research to hopefully improve outcomes of individuals suffering from brain and spine tumors, strokes, hemorrhages, spinal deformities, epilepsy, and movement disorders, among other devastating neurological conditions. Our faculty are involved in discerning the role of skull base tumor genetics with the pathophysiology of these tumors, developing machine learning models to predict tumor characteristics and surgical complications, understanding the role of the surrounding milieu with glioblastoma pathogenesis, identifying the molecular composition of radiation- induced meningiomas, evaluating patient outcomes from minimally-invasive brain bleed evacuations, developing individualized, preoperative instrumentation to correct spinal deformity, creating leading edge technology to help neck and back pain, and numerous other projects.
Our team routinely publishes over 75 peer-reviewed articles, textbooks, and chapters annually and delivers hundreds of local, regional, and national/international lectures at organized neurosurgery meetings throughout the world. We have a weekly Educational Conference and didactic conferences focused on research and recently published journal articles every other week. As importantly, we educate our trainees and medical students about the importance of the non-technical aspects of being a neurosurgeon. There are myriad opportunities for medical students to participate and we encourage them to get involved with faculty and resident research projects, attend departmental conferences, and participate in Stritch’s Student Chapter of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons and Neurosurgery Interest Group (NSIG).
The department offers an M4 sub-internship to Stritch students as well as qualified students from other medical schools. The majority of students completing the four-week sub-internship are applying for neurosurgery residency, but we welcome anyone interested in learning more about the field. The sub-internship is a strong educational experience, as rotating students will gain meaningful knowledge of neurosurgical disease processes and build skills, including conducting the neurological examination and interpreting radiological studies. Assisting with bedside procedures (such as ventriculostomies and lumbar drains) and with surgical procedures in the operating room are integral parts of the rotation. Sub-interns are assigned to the inpatient neurosurgical service at Loyola University Medical Center and generally will work with every resident and attending during the rotation; time is devoted primarily to inpatient care in the Neuroscience ICU and floor, as well as in the OR. Students also will receive some exposure to the outpatient clinic. To gain full exposure to patient care, we encourage sub-interns to take in-house call with neurosurgery residents one night per week. Near the end of the rotation, sub-interns are asked to give a 10-minute presentation on a neurosurgical topic of their choice.
We are so excited to highlight our achievements as you learn more about our department. We invite you to contact us so we can share more information about the many opportunities available for trainees. We look forward to meeting with you, introducing our team, and helping you learn more about this department’s incredible work.
Anand V. Germanwala, MD
Interim Chair, Department of Neurological Surgery
Professor
Residency Program Director