COLUMBUS,
Ohio – The Ohio State University has recruited
a senior investigator from the National Institutes of Health to become chair of
the Department of Neurological Surgery at the Ohio
State University
and College of Medicine
and Ohio State’s
Wexner Medical Center.
An accomplished researcher and
clinician, Dr. Russell R. Lonser has spent the last 11 years at the NIH, most
recently as chief of the Surgical Neurology Branch in the National Institute
of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
The appointment by Dr. Charles
Lockwood, dean of Ohio State’s College
of Medicine, is pending approval of Ohio State’s
Board of Trustees.
Lockwood said Lonser is a great
recruit for a university with one of the premier facilities in the world for
neurological research and treatment.
“Russell is a remarkable leader and
a great addition to an already very talented neurosurgery department and neuroscience
signature program at Ohio
State,” said Lockwood.
“He has made significant contributions to the field of neurosurgery during his
career and he is well-respected for his ability to create and lead programs to
high levels of success,” added Lockwood. “For our students and residents, they
will have the advantage of learning from a skilled surgeon, researcher, and mentor
with ample experience in academic and NIH-based medicine.”
Lonser is well respected within the
neurosurgical field, according to Dr. Steven G. Gabbe, CEO of Wexner Medical
Center. “Russell is an outstanding
clinician, researcher and educator, and we are excited that we could attract
him to Ohio State,” said Gabbe.
Ohio State
has assembled a nationally respected leadership team and exceptional faculty
and staff in the fields of neurosurgery and the neurosciences, according to
Gabbe. “I feel strongly and confidently that their work will be instrumental in
developing proven treatments for some of the most severe and life-altering
conditions affecting the brain and spinal cord,” he said.
In addition to Lonser’s work at the
NIH, he heads the National Football League’s research subcommittee that advises
the NFL commissioner on health issues that affect players. He also is a member
of the NFL’s Head, Neck and Spine medical committee studying brain injuries in
sports and high-impact activities.
He received his medical degree from
Loma Linda
University Medical
School in 1994 and completed his
neurological surgery residency training at the University of Utah
in 2001. During his residency training, he spent more than two years performing
research in the NIH’s Surgical Neurology Branch.
Lonser was awarded the Tumor Young
Investigator Award in 2002 by the American Association of Neurological Surgeons
and Congress of Neurological Surgeons. He also was named chair of the Surgical
Neurology Branch in National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke in
2007. He currently is a professor of neurological surgery at the University of Virginia
and George Washington University.
Lonser has authored more than 200
scientific and clinical publications and is on the editorial boards of the
Journal of Neurosurgery and Neurosurgery, and consulting editor for the
Neurosurgery Clinics of America.
Earlier this year, Dr. Ali Rezai, a
Wexner Medical
Center neurosurgeon and world-renowned
expert in the research and treatment of movement disorders using deep brain
stimulation, was named to lead the Medical Center’s
Neuroscience Program.
