IANCON 2015 in the Historic City of Agra, Oct 1 - 4
Venkatesh Aiyagari, MD and Jon White, MD just returned from India as International Faculty and presenters for the 23rd Annual Conference of Indian Academy of Neurology. Agra is synonymous with the Taj Mahal - one of the Seven Wonders of the World, renowned for its beauty and historical significance.

At the Nahargarh Fort, Jaipur

Dr. Aiyagari’s talk on “Pearls in Critical Care Neurology”

The Neurology team at the Santokba Durlabhji Memorial Hospital, Jaipur

Dr. Jon White addresses the crowd in a presentation on normal pressure hydrocephalus - Neurosurgery for Neurologists 

Dr. Rupam Borgohain (Professor of Neurology, Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences, Hyderabad); Dr. Suresh Gupta (Senior Consultant Neurologist, Santokba Durlabhji Memorial Hospital, Jaipur) and Dr. Venkatesh Aiyagari at the Indian Academy of Neurology Annual Conference in Agra, India

Dr White's being felicitated after his talk on Cranial Nerve Compression syndromes at Jaipur

(Left to Right) Kathleen Bell, MD, Christopher Paliotta, Munroe Cullum, PhD, Mike Singletary, HOF, Shane Miller, MD, and Hunt Batjer, MD.

Con-Tex News, Sept 19, 2015:
This smiling group is working on a Saturday at Clements University Hospital to spread the word about concussions in athletes and to share the news about CON-TEX, the North Texas Sports Concussion Network Registry. The guy in the middle is NFL Hall of Famer, Mike Singletary who talked about Healthy Participation in Sports.

Welcome to UT Southwestern, Sept 1, 2015:
Carlos Bagley, MD is  is trained in both neurosurgery and spine surgery, focusing on spinal oncology, spine neurosurgery and spinal reconstructive surgery. His spinal oncology interests include the treatment of chordomas, spinal cord astrocytomas and ependymomas and spinal column metastases. In addition to his clinical practice, Dr. Bagley conducts research focused on developing new techniques for the treatment of cancers that affect the spinal cord and column. Articles based on his research have been published in the Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine, among other professional publications. Dr. Bagley earned his medical degree at Duke University School of Medicine and completed his residency in neurological surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. His additional training includes a fellowship in spine surgery at Johns Hopkins. Dr. Bagley will serve as Vice-Chairman and Director of the Spine Program as an Associate Professor.

OR 11 at Parkland - A Fond Farewell:
On Thursday, Aug 20th, Parkland Memorial Hospital closed most of the operating rooms including the famed OR 11 where most neuro cases were operated on.

UT Southwestern/Dallas Cowboys Coaches Clinic, July 27, 2015:
Over 400 youth, middle and high school coaches attended the UT Southwestern/Dallas Cowboys Coaches Clinic at the end of July. Sponsored by UT Southwestern, Dr. Hunt Batjer welcomed attendees at lunch and gave an afternoon presentation to the coaches about concussions. Looks like Dr. Batjer met someone more famous than himself - Dallas Cowboys coach Jason Garrett.

Residency Program:
The goal of the residency program is to provide strong clinical training and foster good judgment in the field of neurosurgery in preparation for an academic career or an exemplary private practice. Emphasis is on a practical, patient-centered approach to the field with superlative technical training.  Most residents also are involved with ongoing clinical or basic science research.  Strong leadership abilities are also sought and cultivated.

Links:

UTSW Medical School

American Association of Neurological Surgeons

Congress of Neurological Surgeons

Electronic Residency Application Service

National Residency Matching Program

Dr. Aoun and Dr. Beecher using the endoscope.

Dr. Kafka working with the endoscope.

Dr. Flores gives some instructions.

Approach Course: On March 27, 2015, the residents participated in a UT Southwestern Neurosurgical Laboratory Approach Course entitled Suboccipital Transcondylar Approaches. Led by Dr. Brett Whittemore, it was held in the new Clark-Samson Bioskills Laboratory in L1. (Pictures by Suzanne Truex.)

Dr. Whittemore leads the residents in anatomical wayfinding.

The new lab space is gleaming! What a huge accomplishment.

Dr. Batjer with Ben and Salah’s dissection

Dr. White & Awais check out the instructor view via overhead monitor

Ankur and Dr. Braga work out the suboccipital transcondylar approach

The resident’s completed on July 26, 2013 the first of six in the 2013 - 2014 UT Southwestern Neurosurgical Laboratory Approach Courses entitled Endoscopic Approaches to the Skull Base (Barnett/Batra/J.Lewis) pictures below

Jeremy, Brett, and Joe simulate removal of a tumor using a transphenoidal approach in the lab.  July 10, 2013

Xiexie: Dr. Mickey has had a government funded Visiting Professorship at the Dalian Medical University for 5 years.  This ceremony in late December, 2014 was to present an award for service to Liaoning Province for working in their epilepsy surgery program. Dr. Mickey’s wife, Barbara, attended the ceremony. Congratulations!

New OR: Check out the new Hybrid OR with full Endovascular and Interventional capability.

Everything You Thought You Knew About Physician Stortages - Dr. H. Hunt Batjer - Capitol Hill

Speaker: H. Hunt Batjer, M.D., Darwin E. Smith Distinguished Chair in  Neurological Surgery, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical  Center and President-Elect, American Association of Neurological  Surgeons and Society of Neurological Surgeons

Experts project a  shortage of 91,500 physicians by 2020, split nearly evenly between  primary and specialty care. What is driving these shortages? How will  they affect patients? What are the factors physician trainees consider  when making their career choices?

Click on the image below to go to YouTube and listen to Dr. Batjer’s talk.

AAMC Panel Demystifies the Doctor Shortage

Web Exclusive
May 6, 2014

The doctor shortage, how the academic medicine community is addressing it, and what Congress can do to fix it were the topics of a May 6 briefing on Capitol Hill organized by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). With the growing, aging population, the U.S. is poised to face a physician shortage in the next decade, and a panel of experts emphasized the importance of addressing the shortfall across all medical specialties.

“Primary care is the foundation for a high-performing health system, giving millions of Americans a way to manage chronic conditions and prevent the progression of others,” said Atul Grover, M.D., Ph.D., chief public policy officer at the AAMC. “In addition, the shortage of specialists could prevent the burgeoning population of older Americans from getting the care they need to treat cancer, diabetes, strokes, and other ailments with a higher frequency amongst the elderly. Taken together, both pose a significant problem for the future of health care delivery in the United States.”

To emphasize the impact of the shortage and illustrate that Congressional action to lift the cap on Medicare support for residency slots will help combat it, briefing attendees participated in a simulated “Match Day.” Upon opening their Match letters, they learned that not all graduating medical school students will be able to complete their training right away and become independently practicing physicians. Through mock physician profiles, they also learned about the personal and complex nature of selecting a specialty and residency program.

Dr. Grover began the briefing by explaining why the U.S. is facing a shortage of more than 91,000 physicians by the end of the next decade. While factors like increased insurance coverage, a growing population, and increased utilization due to medical advances are part of the story, the driving force is the aging U.S. population. As the Baby Boomers age, they will need more doctors at the same time that Baby Boomer physicians are retiring.

“If we don’t train more physicians, we will experience a decrease in doctors right as we will be needing more,” Grover said. “We have known for a while that demographics was driving the shortage.”

Dr. Grover also outlined the process for training physicians, and reminded the audience about their potential fate as they opened their Match envelopes. “Just because you want to be a licensed physician after graduating from medical school doesn’t mean you’ll get to be. You need a residency slot to complete your training.”

H. Hunt Batjer, M.D., Darwin E. Smith Distinguished Chair in Neurological Surgery at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and president-elect of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons and the Society of Neurological Surgeons, gave his view of the physician shortage from the perspective of his specialty. An aging population of surgeons and increased demand for specialty care—especially by older Americans—could exacerbate an already troubling maldistribution of surgeons.

Meroë Morse, M.D., a primary care-internal medicine resident at New York University Langone Medical Center, discussed why she chose to become a primary care physician and work at the Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Houston upon completion of her residency.

“Every physician has a story to tell as to why he or she chose to practice medicine, and I have found over the years that the reasons physicians go into medicine are multi-faceted and more complex than most people would think. In my case, the choice to become a primary care doctor was a circuitous decision process influenced by experiences from my upbringing, my personal interests, my lifestyle needs, mentors who guided me along the way, and ultimately, consideration of the type of relationship that I wished to have with my future patients.”

The panelists also discussed the value of the current residency system and training at large teaching hospitals, as Dr. Batjer stressed the importance of team-based care to treat the whole patient, and  Dr. Morse extolled the opportunity to “see the full spectrum of disease and what a critically ill person looks like, even if I’m going into primary care.”

Currently, there are three bills in Congress (H.R. 1180, H.R. 1201, and S. 577) that would help address the doctor shortage by increasing residency slots by 15,000 over five years. This increase would account for one-third of the doctors necessary to meet the country’s workforce needs. In addition to expanded federal support for residency training, the AAMC also has supported studying and investing in team-based approaches and new models of care as part of a comprehensive strategy to address physician shortages.