Education

2005 - Chief Resident, Neurosurgery, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN
2002-2004 - Postdoctoral fellowship, Columbia University, New York, NY
1998-2005 - Neurosurgery residency, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN
1990-1998 - M.D./Ph.D. student, Univ. of Miami School of Medicine, Miami, FL
Ph.D., Physiology and Biophysics, Molecular Neuroscience: "Cloning and Characterization of a Calcitonin Receptor from the Guinea Pig Brain"
B.S. Biology, Brown University, Providence, RI

Career Description

I have two jobs. I am a neurosurgeon and a basic science researcher. As a neurosurgeon I treat and deal with problems that afflict the brain and spine. As a researcher I focus on nanotechnology and how force affects single molecules in normal and diseased states.

There are no typical days. All are hectic and fulfilling. It is exciting to know that I interact with the human nervous system that has been evolving for 500 million years. In any given day I see patients with brain tumors to brain hemorrhages to spinal cord injuries. I wanted to be a neurosurgeon because I felt it was the most challenging vocation.

The best and worst part of my job is that the disease processes that I deal with often leave people on the brink of life, death, or paralyses. The tolerance is high and the demands are challenging.

Change has come about through technology and the way we are using more and more minimally invasive procedures to obtain the same outcomes.