Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) made history in 1997 when two surgeons pioneered fetal surgery to treat spina bifida, or myelomeningocele, the most common birth defect in the central nervous system.

Dario Englot, M.D., Ph.D., has received a grant from the National Institutes of Health to support his research into better understanding brain connectivity disturbances in patients with focal epilepsy.

Neuropsychologist Gary Solomon, Ph.D., recently weighed in on one of the hottest debates in sports medicine, asserting that research doesn’t support the popular theory that concussions put athletes at higher risk for psychiatric illness.

Young athletes who experience a sports-related concussion are more likely to suffer a prolonged period of symptoms if they also have a family history of mood disorders, psychiatric illnesses or migraines, according to a study from the Vanderbilt Sports Concussion Center (VSCC) published in Journal of Neurosurgery: Pediatrics.

Vanderbilt researchers have discovered that activation of a certain signaling pathway protects brain cancers from targeted therapies, suggesting that using therapeutics that block both pathways may be a promising treatment.

Vanderbilt Clinical Neurosciences is marking two milestones — the 20th anniversary of its deep brain stimulation (DBS) program and its 1,000th DBS procedure.

The Vanderbilt Department of Neurological Surgery has been listed in the Becker’s Hospital Review selection of 100 Hospitals With Great Neurosurgery and Spine Programs.