In the News

In November 2019 Dr. Caitlin Hoffman performed the first-ever functional hemispherotomy in Tanzania on a four-year-old boy with intractable seizures. Dr. Hoffman was assisted by Dr. Whitney Parker, a Weill Cornell Medicine neurosurgical resident, as well as by Dr. Japhet Ngerageza, the patient’s attending neurosurgeon. The surgery was successful, and the little boy is now seizure free.

For the past decade, our neurosurgical program in Tanzania has focused on neurotrauma and birth defects largely because they affect children and young adults; returning them to good health results in a large number of additional productive years of life. This year we expanded our scope to include seizure disorders, which also disproportionately affect children.

Untreated seizures can lead to cognitive deficits and greatly limit a...

Ashley O'Connor with Dr. Stieg
Her teammates wrote, “Ashley goes over and beyond for her patients as well as her colleagues.”
Dr. Babacar Cisse
His talk was an examination of how the CNS immune cells called microglia perform their functions in normal brains and in brain tumors.
PrIMES Fall Fundraiser
PrIMES raised over $5000 to support its mission of reducing the healthcare education diversity gap.
Sidra Medicine
The Pediatric Neuroscience Conference at Sidra Medicine was conceived as a forum in which to bring together global experts to explore complex neurological disorders.
Stephanie Sharkey, PA-C
Stephanie is one of more than 600 Physician Assistants at the many NewYork-Presbyterian locations, representing one of the fastest growing professions in the country.
This innovative course brought together neurosurgeons, neurologists, and neuropsychologists to explore the multidisciplinary needs of adults and children with neurosurgical disorders.
Dr. Schwartz at Mayo Clinic Jacksonville
Dr. Schwartz’s presentation, Endoscopic Endonasal Approaches to the Anterior Skull Base: The Lifelong Learning Curve, focused on his long-term approach to improving endoscopic surgery.
Dr. Benjamin Hartley, Dr. Caitlin Hoffman, and Dr. Philip Stieg, Chairman of the Neurological Surgery Department
New funding for PrIMES comes from a Cornell University program and will help our mentorship efforts expand and benefit mentees.
Dr. Roger Hartl bids farewell to Dr. Autumn Zuckerman and Dr. Scott Zuckerman as they head to Tanzania
Dr. Scott Zuckerman will be based in the Muhimbili Orthopaedic Institute, where he will evaluate patients, perform surgery, conduct research, and train Tanzanian surgeons.

Weill Cornell Medicine Neurological Surgery 525 East 68 Street, Box 99 New York, NY 10065 Phone: 866-426-7787