Research

The Department of Neurosurgery is firmly committed to both basic and clinical research. Westchester Medical Center is located on the same campus as New York Medical College, which has well-funded and strong basic science departments with graduate programs. Our faculty and residents have complete access to this tremendous resource and collaborate with the basic scientists at the College. Department members also participate in teaching basic science to medical students, who frequently take summer research internships in neurosurgery.

All faculty members and residents participate in clinical and/or basic research. Our residents have a completely protected and dedicated year of research, which is often conducted in one of the basic science departments at the College. Mentors for the research year include clinical faculty as well as basic scientists. Progress is assessed on a regular basis, and the work is presented at both local and national meetings. At the end of the year, a publication is prepared for submission to a peer-reviewed journal. For the past four years, our residents all have won awards for their research projects.

Intrinsic to our research program is a Research Associate Professor of Neurosurgery, Dr. Meena Jhanwar-Uniyal, who has one of her laboratories in the Department of Neurosurgery. Dr. Jhanwar-Uniyal focuses on molecular and genetic mechanisms of primary and metastatic tumors of the nervous system in an effort to understand the basic mechanisms of tumor metastasis. She also studies brain tumors with respect to mutations in genes that encode proteins involved in cell cycle regulation, cell survival, and apoptosis.

Dr. P. Charles Garell, who recently joined the Department, has a grant from the National Institutes of Health to study auditory physiology in the cerebral cortex and the development of an auditory cortical prosthesis.

Neurosurgery faculty and residents participate in spinal cord injury research being conducted by faculty in the Department of Cell Biology. One of our senior residents recently completed a year of research in this laboratory. She was awarded first prize for her work when it was presented to the New York Society of Neurosurgery and also received the Synthes prize for best spinal cord injury research at the 2004 American Association of Neurological Surgery annual meeting. We have established a skull base anatomy dissection facility with the Department of Anatomy at the Medical School. The laboratory has a dedicated microscope, drill system, and instruments for performing detailed skull base microsurgical dissections.

A departmental medical editor facilitates our publications, which range from basic science reports to clinical observational manuscripts to medical history. We are proud to have a high acceptance rate for submissions to peer-reviewed journals. The Department holds monthly research meetings to review the status of all projects. During these lively sessions, the faculty and residents freely and critically discuss the works in progress.

Our residents regularly attend scientific courses and national meetings at departmental expense. This Department remains dedicated to the provision of time and funds for research effort and education.