Massachusetts Hospital Opens New Neurosurgery Program

Posted on September 8, 2017 by MaryO

Please let us know your experiences with this new program!

 

Hallmark Health and Tufts Medical Center have established a new neurosurgery program at Melrose-Wakefield Hospital to bring advanced care and services to the community. Fellowship-trained neurosurgeon Mina G. Safain, MD, has been jointly hired by Hallmark Health and Tufts Medical Center to lead the new program. He will provide care at both Melrose-Wakefield Hospital and Tufts Medical Center.

The neurosurgery program is an example of clinical integration of services between Hallmark Health and Tufts Medical Center since Hallmark Health joined Wellforce as a third founding member this past January. At that time, leaders from the organizations discussed finding ways to bring specialized care traditionally performed at academic medical centers into the community hospital setting for the benefit and convenience of patients.

“Offering neurosurgery provides a service for our patients that few community hospitals can offer,” said Steven Sbardella, MD, chief medical officer at Hallmark Health. “Our clinical relationship with Tufts Medical Center enables us to bring more highly specialized care options to our patients.”

“We are extremely excited to work with the physicians at Melrose-Wakefield Hospital and look forward to increasing the services available to care for patients with neurologic diseases,” said Carl Heilman, MD, neurosurgeon-in-chief at Tufts Medical Center. “Dr. Safain is an exceptionally talented and compassionate neurosurgeon and the perfect person to spearhead the launch of this new program.”

Dr. Safain’s clinical interests include all diseases affecting the brain, spine and peripheral nervous system.  He has specific interests in minimal access procedures for degenerative, infectious and oncologic spine disorders, as well as minimally invasive treatments for brain tumors, including neuro-endoscopy.

“The opportunity to practice in the community is very important to me,” said Dr. Safain. “I look forward to working with the esteemed staff and providers at Melrose-Wakefield Hospital and Lawrence Memorial Hospital and treating the patients in the surrounding communities.”

“Welcoming such a highly-respected neurosurgeon as Mina Safain to our team is a tremendous benefit for our communities and patients across our system including Lawrence Memorial Hospital in Medford and Melrose-Wakefield Hospital,” said Dr. Sbardella.

Dr. Safain, together with Ran Ku, PA, a neurosurgery physician assistant with more than 12 years of experience, will provide neurosurgery coverage and expertise five days a week.

Dr. Safain received his medical degree from Yale University School of Medicine.  He completed his neurosurgery residency at Tufts Medical Center serving as chief resident during his final year.  Dr. Safain also completed fellowship training in pituitary and neuro-endoscopic surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

Dr. Safain has published and presented nationally on a range of topics related to neurosurgical diseases and minimally invasive treatments for brain tumors.

From https://www.hallmarkhealth.org/Neurosurgery-program-established-at-Melrose-Wakefield-Hospital.html

Filed under: Cushing's, Helpful Doctors, pituitary, Rare Diseases | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Cataloging Cushing’s Patients

Posted on June 3, 2017 by MaryO

The Cushing/Whitney Medical Library is pleased to announce the completion of a grant funded to catalog 2,600 glass plate negatives from the Cushing Brain Tumor Registry.  The grant proposal, “Rethinking Early Neurosurgery: The Harvey Cushing Collection,” was funded through a National Network of Libraries of Medicine-New England Region Knowledge/Data Management Award.  From mid-February through April 30th 2017,  a team of graduate and undergraduate students carefully inputted information on over 3,000 glass plate negatives into the Cushing Center database, exceeding the estimated amount in the grant. The negatives depict Dr. Harvey Cushing’s patients, including histology.

Harvey Cushing, the pioneer and father of neurosurgery, was born on April 8, 1869 in Cleveland, Ohio. He graduated from Yale University in 1891, studied medicine at Harvard Medical School and received his medical degree in 1895. In 1896, he moved to Johns Hopkins Hospital where he trained to become a surgeon under the watchful eye of William S. Halstead, the father of American surgery. By 1899 Cushing became interested in surgery of the nervous system and began his career in neurosurgery. During his tenure at Johns Hopkins, there were countless discoveries in the field of neuroscience.

In 1913, Cushing relocated to Harvard as the surgeon-in-chief at the new Peter Bent Brigham Hospital. Cushing continued to operate on several hundred patients a year with remarkable results.  In addition he was relentless in his recording of patient histories and continued his careful attention to the details and documentation of each surgery.

In 1932 Harvey Cushing retired and in 1933 he agreed to join the staff at Yale University, his alma mater, as the Sterling Professor of Medicine in Neurology.  Cushing died in 1939.

The negatives are undergoing rehousing and digitization, and will be made available for research through the Cushing Center database, which brings multiple parts of Harvey Cushing’s work together in one place.  The database, still in development, will allow researchers to explore Cushing’s medical work and patients.  Please contact Terry Dagradi, Cushing Center Coordinator, for details.

 

From http://library.medicine.yale.edu/blog/cushing-center/cataloging-cushings-patients

Filed under: Cushing, Cushing's, Helpful Doctors, pituitary | Tagged: , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Helpful Endocrinologist in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Posted on November 23, 2016 by MaryO

Dr. Murray Gordon is an endocrinologist in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and is affiliated with multiple hospitals in the area, including Allegheny General Hospital and Washington Hospital. He received his medical degree from Albany Medical College and has been in practice for more than 20 years. Dr. Gordon accepts several types of health insurance, listed below. He is one of 8 doctors at Allegheny General Hospital and one of 3 at Washington Hospital who specialize in Endocrinology, Diabetes & Metabolism.

Dr. Gordon is in private practice and has an  experienced research site that is currently recruiting for a Cushing’s Syndrome Trial.  If interested in this trial, please call Ann at 412-359-5143.

 

420 E North Ave
Suite 205
Pittsburgh, PA 15212

Phone (412) 359-3426

Fax (412) 359-6974

Filed under: Clinical trials, Helpful Doctors | Tagged: , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Johns Hopkins surgeon ‘Dr. Q’ to get Hollywood treatment

Posted on March 9, 2016 by MaryO

DrQ

 

Brad Pitt’s production company Plan B has teamed up with Disney to develop a movie based on the life of Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa, the head of brain tumor surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Quiñones-Hinojosa’s path to becoming a physician started in an unlikely place: a cotton field. He had come to the United States in 1987 from his native Mexico at the age of 19, penniless and unable to speak English. Driven to have a better life than the one he would have had in Mexico, he took jobs picking cotton, painting, and welding to pay for his tuition at San Joaquin Delta Community College in Stockton, California.

“These very same hands that now do brain surgery, right around that time they had scars everywhere from pulling weeds. They were bloody,” he told CNN correspondent Sanjay Gupta in a 2012 interview.

After earning his medical degree from Harvard Medical School and training in both general surgery and neurosurgery at the University of California, San Francisco, Quiñones-Hinojosa came to Johns Hopkins in 2005 and became a faculty member and surgeon. He specializes in brain cancer and pituitary tumors. His autobiography Becoming Dr. Q: My Journey from Migrant Farm Worker to Brain Surgeon was published in 2011 and received the International Latino Book Award in 2012.

Feeling like an outsider helped keep Quiñones-Hinojosa focused and “at the top of his game,” he told CNN. In the keynote speech delivered at Johns Hopkins University’s 2013 commencement ceremony, he elaborates, weaving together memories of his own brush with death in a work accident with his experience operating on a patient with a massive brain tumor that unexpectedly ruptured during surgery. Quoting the migrant farm worker and civil rights activist Cesar Chavez, he says, “If you are afraid, you will work like crazy.”

Plan B began developing the project—titled Dr. Q, the nickname for Quiñones-Hinojosa adopted by his patients—in 2007 after hearing a radio broadcast about the doctor and his background.

Matt Lopez, author of the popular Civil War play The Whipping Man and a former staff writer for HBO’s The Newsroom, will write the script.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Disney expects Dr. Q to be a modestly-budgeted inspirational drama. Plan B executives Pitt, Dede Gardner, and Jeremy Kleiner won Best Picture Oscars two years ago for their production work on 12 Years a Slave and were nominated this year for their work on The Big Short.

From http://hub.jhu.edu/2016/03/07/brad-pitt-disney-dr-q-movie

 

Filed under: Cushing's, Helpful Doctors, pituitary, Rare Diseases, Video | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Florida Doctors ~ So Far

Posted on June 20, 2015 by MaryO

florida

 

The doctors listed here have been recommended to Cushing’s Help by other patients as being helpful to them.  These physicians are familiar with the symptoms and treatment of Cushing’s Disease (pituitary) and Cushing’s Syndrome. Your primary care physician may be able to order very basic screening tests. Some of these doctors may require a referral and/or an abnormal test result prior to scheduling an appointment.

Cushing’s Help does not endorse any particular physician. Choosing a particular physician and substantiating his/her expertise is the responsibility of the individual patient.

To recommend your own doctor for this list, please fill out this form.

These doctors are also available on this map.  Please add yourself and/or your doctor.

This list is a continuing resource as new doctors are added, edited OR removed.

 

Florida

Jacksonville

Dr. Eric Sauvageau 

Specialty: Endovascular Neurosurgeon

Location: 800 Prudential Drive – Suite 1100
Jacksonville, FL

Phone: 904-388-6518

Website: http://www.baptistjax.com/doctors/endovascular-neurosurgeon/dr-eric-sauvageau-md

Patient Comment: I went to him for my IPSS procedure. I was VERY impressed by the care that I received. Dr. Sauvageau is Top-Notch! He answered all of my questions & made me feel more comfortable about the IPSS. Very caring. He made a REALLY scary test (that I had cried about many times) EASY PEASY. In fact, everyone at the hospital was super nice! I went to him based on the reviews of 2 other Cushies . He is highly experienced in the procedure and used to do IPSS tests at OSU. I had no pain afterwards and I could barely find where they went in.

 

More coming soon!

Filed under: Cushing's, Helpful Doctors, Rare Diseases, Treatments | Tagged: , , , , | Leave a comment »

« Previous Page — Next Page »