This web site will familiarize you with Neurosurgery at The Ohio State University School of Medicine, Ohio State University Hospitals, and the James Cancer Hospital.  Information concerning the history and services provided by Neurosurgery are provided.

If you are interested in Neurosurgery as a career, an overview of the program, including requirements, and the information required for application to the residency program are reviewed.

If you are a patient or patient’s family seeking neurosurgical care, the faculty and clinical services offered are presented, and the mechanism for referral to the medical center are provided.

The Medical Center cares for a variety of complex neurosurgical cases including brain tumors, spinal surgery, trauma, occlusive vascular surgery, and peripheral nerve conditions. The Department of Neurological Surgery impacts positively with other disciplines ranging from anesthesiology to Neurology to rehabilitation; the resulting multidisciplinary approach provides comprehensive and exemplary care to patients.  Research initiatives within the department also increase opportunities with industry to convert research discoveries into new therapeutics and technologies.

Neurological Surgery is a relatively new discipline, dating back to the early part of the 20th century. From its beginnings the specialty has been wedded firmly to the laboratory. The founders and pathfinders in Neurosurgery: Sir Victor Horsley; Harvey Cushing; Walter Dandy; Wilder Penfield; and many others, while all technically skillful surgeons, were, in many respects, clinical neurophysiologists. During their careers they shuttled between their experimental laboratories, clinical wards, and operating theaters seeing problems, asking questions, and designing appropriate investigative tactics for their resolution. This tradition of a discipline whose practitioners are intellectually restless and rarely satisfied with old maxims or current statistics holds true to the present time.

Dr. E. Antonio Chiocca, the first chairman of the department, holds the Dardinger Family Endowed Chair in Oncological Neurosurgery. Dr. Chiocca is an outstanding, physician-scientist who is nationally recognized as a brain tumor specialist and leading investigator in the use of gene therapies for brain tumors and other central nervous system disorders.

With Dr. Chiocca’s leadership, the Department of Neurosurgery carries on the noble heritage of the founders of the specialty.

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© 2004-2008 Department of Neurological Surgery, The Ohio State University.