Our Surgical Programs
Honoring Women Physicians
On February 3 each year we take a moment to honor women physicians everywhere. The date marks the birthday of Elizabeth Blackwell, who was the first woman in America to receive a medical degree. Born in England in 1821, Elizabeth moved to the United States with her family as a child. Her desire to become a physician was met with scorn and she was rejected by every medical school she applied to.
16 Faculty Members Named to 2020 New York SuperDoctors List
A record 16 faculty members from the Weill Cornell Medicine Brain and Spine Center were named to the 2020 list of New York SuperDoctors, published as a supplement to the New York Times Magazine on May 10, 2020. This list is an elite roster of physicians named by their peers as the very best in their field.
Dr. Souweidane’s Phase 1 Trial Findings Published in Lancet Oncology
Today, the peer-reviewed journal Lancet Oncology published the highly anticipated results of Dr. Mark Souweidane’s first-ever dose escalation study using convection-enhanced delivery (CED) in patients with diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG). The milestone Phase I clinical trial, which investigated the safety of using CED to bypass the blood-brain barrier and administer a drug directly to a brain stem tumor site, resulted in no serious adverse effects and no dose-limiting toxicity; researchers conclude that the technique is safe to use in children.
The Michael L. J. Apuzzo Resident Literature Award for Creativity and Innovation
Established 2017
Weill Cornell Medical College
Chairman Philip E. Stieg and the Department of Neurological Surgery at the Weill Cornell Medical College have established the Michael L. J. Apuzzo Resident Literature Award for Creativity and Innovation for contributions to the peer-reviewed medical literature.
Lyonhearted Foundation Funds New DIPG Project
Thanks to a gift from the Lyonhearted Foundation of southern California, Dr. Mark Souweidane and Dr. Uday Maachani will initiate a new research project in the Children’s Brain Tumor Project laboratory. The team expects the new investigation to validate the use of cell-free tumor DNA (cf-DNA) as a biomarker of the disease burden in children with diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG).
Raymond Chang Wins ABTA Award for Summer Sprint Project
Raymond Chang, a medical student who participated in the Children’s Brain Tumor Project “summer sprint” in 2016, has been named winner of the American Brain Tumor Association’s Lucien Rubinstein Award.
CBTP Lab’s “Summer Sprint” Continues
The final two participants in the summer 2016 research program have arrived in the Children’s Brain Tumor Project (CBTP) lab. Matthew Bernstein, who lost his brother Zachary to DIPG and who currently serves as the Youth Volunteer Coordinator for his family’s Fly a Kite Foundation, will spend August helping kick-start our efforts to build a database of thalamic glioma samples. These samples, in combination with the data we are assembling through the online Thalamic Glioma Registry, will be invaluable in new, specific research efforts dedicated to these rare brain tumors.
8 Weill Cornell Medicine Neurosurgeons Among Top Doctors in New York 2016
This week’s issue of New York magazine features the annual listing of “Best Doctors in New York,” and the Weill Cornell Medicine Brain and Spine Center is once again proud to have eight members of our team included on the list. This prestigious roster includes Dr. Philip E.
Samuel Jeffers Foundation Funds Summer Medical Student Fellow for Thalamic Gliomas
The Samuel Jeffers Childhood Cancer Foundation has donated $5,000 to the Children’s Brain Tumor Project (CBTP) to fund a dedicated summer fellow for thalamic glioma research. The fellow will focus on assembling a thalamic glioma tissue repository here at Weill Cornell to provide researchers with tumor samples to study.
Drs. Schwartz and Souweidane Speak at AINAS II in Cairo
Dr. Theodore Schwartz and Dr. Mark Souweidane recently presented at the Second Annual International Congress of the Neurosurgery Department of Ain Shams University (AINAS II) in Cairo. The international meeting, which was organized by the university in collaboration with the Egyptian Society of Neurological Surgery (ESNS), brought together experts from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Germany, South Korea, Finland, the United Kingdom, and the United States to bring advanced endoscopic neurosurgical training to local surgeons.
Dr. Morgenstern Named Winner of 2015 Kenneth Shulman Award
Peter Morgenstern, M.D., a fifth-year resident in neurosurgery at Weill Cornell Brain and Spine Center, has been awarded the 2015 Kenneth Shulman Award from the Joint Section on Pediatric Neurosurgery of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS). This award is given each year for the best paper presented at the annual meeting of the Joint Section by a resident-in-training. Dr. Morgenstern's winning paper is "Menin: A Novel Therapeutic Target for Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma," conducted under the mentorship of Dr. Viviane Tabar of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
Video: Searching for a Cure for DIPG
Dr. Souweidane and Dr. Greenfield discuss their research and the quest to find a cure.
Rudin Foundation Gift Creates Medical Student Fellowship
The Weill Cornell Brain and Spine Center has announced a new medical student fellowship, starting in July 2015. The fellowship, made possible by a generous grant from the Rudin Foundation, will allow one medical student per year to join the Children's Brain Tumor Project as a way to explore a research career in pediatric neuro-oncology. Dr. Mark M. Souweidane, Professor and Vice Chairman of the Weill Cornell Department of Neurosurgery and co-director of the Children's Brain Tumor Project, will be the fellowship director for this position.
The Best Neurosurgeons in New York
The Weill Cornell Brain and Spine Center is proud to count six of our neurosurgeons among the Best Doctors listed in New York magazine’s annual Best Doctors issue. This year’s list includes four of our full-time faculty — Dr. Philip E. Stieg, chairman of the department of neurosurgery and neurosurgeon-in-chief; Dr.
Mark Souweidane to Be Honored With Cristian Rivera Foundation Vision of Hope Award
Dr. Mark Souweidane, Vice Chairman of the Weill Cornell Brain and Spine Center and Director of Pediatric Neurological Surgery, will be honored next Monday night, September 30, with the 2013 Cristian Rivera Foundation Vision of Hope Award. The award will be presented at the fifth annual Cristian Rivera Foundation Celebrity Gala.
Children’s Brain Tumor Project Researcher Awarded 3-Year DoD Grant
Yujie Huang, PhD, has been awarded a three-year, $400,000 grant from the Department of Defense for a research project investigating how children’s brain tumors progress. Dr. Huang, who works in Dr. Jeffrey Greenfield's pediatric neuro-oncology laboratory, will be working on “Characterizing and Targeting Bone Marrow-Derived Inflammatory Cells in Driving the Malignancy and Progression of Childhood Astrocytic Brain Tumors.”
Weill Cornell Brain and Spine Center Opens New Patient Facility in Lower Manhattan
Dr. Philip Stieg, director of the Weill Cornell Brain and Spine Center and neurosurgeon-in-chief of NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, has announced the opening of new clinical location in lower Manhattan. The new facility is located at 156 William Street, on the 12th floor, convenient to all of downtown Manhattan and Brooklyn.
Summer Research Project Aims to Unlock Secrets of Gliomatosis Cerebri
Emma D. Vartanian, a medical student at Weill Cornell Medical College, has been awarded a prestigious Summer Fellowship from the Saint Baldrick’s Foundation to work in Dr. Jeffrey Greenfield’s research lab this year. Emma will be dedicated to an exciting project focused exclusively on gliomas.
Dr. Souweidane and Dr. Zhou Contribute Chapter on DIPG and Other Brainstem Gliomas to New Text on Brain Tumor Treatments
Mark Souweidane, MD, Vice Chairman of the Brain and Spine Center and the director of pediatric neurosurgery, and Zhiping Zhou, PhD, who manages Dr. Souweidane's pediatric neuro-oncology lab, have contributed a chapter to the new book, "Clinical Management and Evolving Novel Therapeutic Strategies for Patients with Brain Tumors."
5 Weill Cornell Neurosurgeons Named to List of 2013 SuperDoctors
This year’s list includes Neurosurgeon-in-Chief Philip Stieg, M.D., Ph.D.; Vice Chairman and Director of Pediatric Neurosurgery Mark Souweidane, M.D.; Vice Chairman for Research and Director of Movement Disorders Michael Kaplitt, M.D., Ph.D.; Chief of Spinal Surgery Roger Hartl, M.D.; and spine surgeon Eric Elowitz, M.D.
Dr. Souweidane’s Patient Appears in New Ad Campaign
Danion Jones, a young patient of Dr. Mark Souweidane, is featured in the latest video from NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. At age three Danion was near death from a brain tumor, but his mother brought him to Dr. Souweidane at the Weill Cornell Brain and Spine Center. Dr. Souweidane recognized that Danion’s grave condition was not due to his tumor but to infection and was able to help the child recover. With Danion back from the brink, Dr. Souweidane performed a full day of surgery to remove the tumor and restored the boy to his mom. Watch the video below:
Dr. Greenfield to Share in Award for Pediatric Brain Cancer Research
Dr. Jeffrey Greenfield has been awarded $112,000 for two years (from January 2013 to December 31, 2014, by the Starr Cancer Consortium for “Elucidating Mechanisms of Histone H3.3 Mutants-Mediated Oncogenesis in Pediatric Brain Cancers.”
Dr. Mark Souweidane Brings His Expertise to Germany to Teach Advanced Endoscopic Neurosurgery
Dr. Mark Souweidane will co-lead a three-day endoscopic neurosurgery course this spring in Germany with Dr. Peter Nakaji of Barrow Neurological Associates. The course will offer a comprehensive overview on endoscopic techniques in intracranial neurosurgery, including didactic lectures, illustrative cases, and cadaveric workshop sessions. Procedures will include managing complex hydrocephalus, removing intraventricular tumors, and endoscopic transnasal approaches to the pituitary fossa and the entire midline skull base.
6 Weill Cornell Neurosurgeons Named 2012 Top Doctors
Six neurosurgeons from the Weill Cornell Brain and Spine Center have been named to the Castle Connolly list of Top Doctors for the New York metro area.
Dr. Greenfield Awarded Grant for Research on How Low-Grade Pediatric Tumors Transform Into Malignancies
Dr. Jeffrey Greenfield has been awarded a $75,000 grant from the Matthew Larson Foundation to support his research into how low-grade tumors are transformed into high-grade gliomas through the involvement of bone-marrow-derived cells (BMDCs). Read more about Dr. Greenfield's research.
Six Weill Cornell Neurosurgeons Named as U.S. News Top Doctors
We're proud to have six of our neurosurgeons on this first edition of the magazine's list of top doctors.