Neurosurgery

hands with brain illustration floating between

 

Welcome to the Department of Neurological Surgery at Tulane University and thank you for your interest. We hope that you will find our website informative.

Neurosurgery at Tulane has enjoyed a rich heritage having been led by outstanding individuals including Dean Echols, Raeburn Llewllyn, Donald Richardson and subsequently by Miguel Melgar and Roger Smith. I am extremely excited about the future, building upon our heritage and relentlessly pursuing our vision forward by standing on “the shoulders of giants”.

We have a steadfast commitment to provide the highest quality of care for every patient that we have the privilege to serve. We are proud to have expertise across all subspecialty areas including cerebrovascular and endovascular neurosurgery, spine surgery, neuro-oncologic surgery, stereotactic and functional neurosurgery, peripheral nerve surgery and pediatric neurosurgery.

We are committed to innovation and offering our patients the latest and most exciting treatment options. We uniquely have two neurosurgeons dual-trained in both open microsurgery and minimally invasive endovascular neurosurgery for treatment of vascular disorders of the brain and spine. We have experience in treating more than 1000 patients with brain aneurysms with these techniques including use of the Pipeline embolization device (concerning which we proctor other surgeons across the country). Additionally, our physicians are leaders in national and international clinical trials and research for brain aneurysms and stroke. We also have fellowship-trained neurosurgeons to offer the latest treatment options (including minimally invasive techniques) for other neurosurgical conditions including brain and spine tumors as well as all other conditions of the spine.

We have an ongoing patient safety and quality improvement program to ensure that our care exceeds national standards, and most importantly, meets or exceeds the expectations of each of our patients. Part of our mission in clinical care also centers on improving the care of patients in our larger geographic community. We are committed to expanding our telemedicine network for citizens of Louisiana, Mississippi and beyond. Our physicians have repeatedly been recognized with honors such as inclusion in "Best Doctors in America", "America's Top Surgeons", and "Patient's Choice Awards" from consumer health sites such as Healthgrades.

Our Tulane-Ochsner Neurosurgery Residency Program is thriving and is placed of utmost importance in our strategic plan. We are committed to the training of residents and subsequently in training the future leaders of academic neurosurgery. We believe that we have a unique blend of talented faculty with expertise across all subspecialty areas, an individualized plan for each resident’s academic development leveraging our departmental and institutional strengths and resources, coupled with an innovative and thoughtful formal curriculum for resident education. We sincerely believe that this is an exciting time to be a resident in our program.

Our research program is expanding and we are focused upon clinical and translational research that will improve the care of our patients both now and in the future. Our research portfolio includes an NIH-funded program to investigate the role of inflammation and oxidative stress in brain aneurysm formation, progression and rupture with the ultimate goal of developing minimally invasive or non-invasive therapies to treat brain aneurysms and ameliorate the devastation inflicted by aneurysm rupture. We also have robust programs investigating endovascular technology and device development, diverse clinical trials in stroke and spinal disorders, and outcomes research in neurosurgical conditions.

Once again, thank you for your interest in the Department of Neurological Surgery at Tulane University. This is truly an exciting time in our Department. Please do not hesitate to contact me if I can assist you further in any way.

Aaron Dumont, MD, MBA, FACS, FAHA
Associate Dean & Vice President of Health System Clinical Affairs
Director of the Tulane Center for Clinical Neurosciences
Charles B. Wilson Professor & Chair