(Specialized Programs of Translational Research in Acute Stroke) grant, it is one of just eight such centers in the country. We reach beyond our community to serve the entire Southern California region with the Telestroke unit, and hospitals across the country through our Tele-ICU network, which beams in a neurointensivist via telemedicine to treat critical patients in community hospitals lacking this expertise. Our endovascular devices invented at UCLA circle the globe treating patients with stroke. The UCLA Brian Tumor Program continues to shine as a beacon of hope, carrying a record of patients with brain tumors living longer than patients treated at any other hospital. Our personalized brain cancer vaccine, DCVax, is the first of its kind and is currently in
UCLA NEUROSURGERY: INTO THE BRAIN AND BEYOND
Phase III clinical trials in 46 centers throughout America. It is on the road to FDA approval as well as clinical trials throughout Europe. Using this vaccine, we are harnessing the patient’s immune system, genetics, pathology, brain mapping and a wide database of bioinformatics to optimize outcomes. Through a recently-awarded NIH grant in the UCLA Spine Center, we are innovating next-generation neurobionics and neuromodulation with interventions that may enable patients with severe paralysis to stand, step, and regain voluntary muscle control once lost to injury. Additionally, our neuroscientists recently discovered that stimulating the entorhinal cortex in the brain could lead to boosting memory in patients with Alzheimer’s disease.
Looking ahead, we are on the threshold of opening the Global Neurosurgery Institute in the Edie and Lew Wasserman Building at UCLA to deploy the latest advancements in telemedicine that will surround our patients with world-class expertise. Today, we will share how we make beating impossible odds possible, by staying focused on our mission of working together as a team to provide exceptional patient care and invent the future of neurosurgery.
Neil A. Martin, MD, FAANS PROFESSOR & W. EUGENE STERN CHAIR IN NEUROSURGERY
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