Journal of Neurosurgery Leaders featuring Faith C. Robertson, MD

Personal Finances: Finances of Starting a Practice featuring E. Hunter Dyer, MD, FAANSDr. Hunter Dyer has been a practicing neurosurgeon at Carolina Neurosurgery and Spine Associates since 1994. He completed neurosurgery training at UTSW -Dallas.  His practice focus is in minimally invasive spine, open vascular, and transnasal skull base. He was President and Chairman of Board of CNSA from 2002-2022. 

Teaching and Learning: In the Lab featuring Chetan Bettegowda, MD, FAANSDr. Chetan Bettegowda is currently the Jennison and Novak Families Professor of Neurosurgery and Oncology and Vice Chair for Research in the Department of Neurosurgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. His clinical focus is on the surgical management of brain tumors and directs and metastatic brain tumor center, meningioma center and trigeminal neuralgia. He directs the Reza Khatib Brain Tumor Center and the Physician Scientist Training Program at Johns Hopkins. As Medical Director of the Ludwig Center for Cancer Genetics and Therapeutics, his laboratory efforts have focused on the applications of cell free tumor derived DNA for the early detection and monitoring of a myriad of cancers. His research has been funded by the Burroughs Wellcome Career Award for Medical Scientists, Doris Duke Clinician Scientist Award, Department of Defense and the National Cancer Institute. He has been recognized with numerous awards including being named the 2022 William Baumgartner Johns Hopkins Physician of the Year. He has published widely with over 250 articles including in journals such as Science, Science Translational Medicine, Nature Genetics, Nature Communications, Cell Reports Medicine and PNAS. 

Teaching and Learning: Neuroanatomy featuring Maria Peris-Celda, MD, PhD, FAANSDr. Peris Celda is an Associate Professor in neurosurgery who specializes in complex brain and skull base tumors and other neurosurgical cranial conditions. She is devoted to offering individualized treatment to each patient including open, minimally invasive, and endoscopic techniques to maximize surgical resection and achieve surgical goals preserving quality of life.Following her surgical anatomy fellowship under world-renowned neurosurgeon Professor A.L. Rhoton, Dr. Peris Celda's research interests have focused on the development of safer surgical techniques and approaches based on a detailed surgical anatomy knowledge. Dr. Peris Celda's neurosurgical anatomy laboratory team comprises fellows of different backgrounds, national and international, who are deeply committed to surgical education and to advancing surgical techniques towards safer, more accurate surgeries.

Communication Tips: Giving and Receiving Feedback featuring Stacey Wolfe, MD, FAANSStacey Quintero Wolfe, MD is a neurosurgeon with Wake Forest Baptist Health in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.She is a board-certified neurosurgeon, specializing in disorders of blood vessels, brain trauma and spine. She completed fellowships in endovascular and cerebrovascular/skull base neurosurgery at the University of Miami.  As a 21-year US Navy veteran, she earned the Meritorious Service Medal and developed the Stroke and Neurotrauma Programs at Tripler Army Medical Center. She joined Wake Forest Baptist Health in 2013 as Director of Neurointerventional Surgery and Residency Program Director. She built a hemorrhagic stroke research program and am co-Principal Investigator of National Institute of Health (NIH) StrokeNet at Wake Forest Baptist Health. She leads multiple NIH and national clinical trials in stroke and brain hemorrhage, and is studying neuroinflammation, genetic risk factors, and genetic mutations in the development of cerebral Arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) in her research lab. She has served on the American Association of Neurological Surgeons Board of Directors, Executive Committee of the Congress of Neurological Surgery and Society of Neurological Surgeons, American Heart Association Mission Stroke Task Force, and as Chair of Women in Neurosurgery. She has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles and review for five journals. She was awarded the national 2021 ACGME Courage to Teach Award for innovation and mentorship in education, and am dedicated to providing cutting edge care for patients with neurologic disease.She lives in Winston-Salem with her husband and two children. In her free time, she volunteers at a local school and in the community.  

Personal Finances: You Have a Salary, Now What? featuring Jake WeatherfordJake Weatherford, with Castlepoint Wealth Advisors,  is a partner and wealth advisor whose primary focus is to provide client investment advice and implement the firm’s financial planning strategies. He is also responsible for portfolio modeling and financial projections, which help clients evaluate the potential outcomes of their decisions. Jake is nearing a decade in financial advising and specializes in helping clients navigate complex retirement planning and wealth transfer concerns.It was Jake’s desire to help people that drew him to the wealth management industry, where he earned the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ and Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy (CAP) designations.Jake holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Oklahoma State University and an MBA in financial planning. While at Oklahoma State he was a recipient of the General Honors Award. He is a board member of the Downtown Club of Oklahoma City, and he serves as a Division 1 college football official. Jake and his wife, Shelbie, live in Oklahoma City and are the proud parents of a baby boy, Eli. They attend Life Church and especially enjoy traveling and spending time outdoors as a family.

Denial of Payment after Successful Prior Authorization: The Latest Commercial Payer Ruse featuring Luis Tumialan, MD, FAANSLuis Manuel Tumialán is a Professor of Neurosurgery at the Barrow Neurological Institute specializing in minimally invasive spinal surgery. He graduated from Georgetown University School of Medicine, completed his internship at the Naval Medical Center in San Diego. Dr. Tumialán completed additional training in undersea medicine in Groton Connecticut and Navy Dive School in Panama City, Florida. Upon completion of his operational training, he served as the Diving Medical Officer assigned to Naval Special Warfare Unit One in Guam during the Global War on Terror in the aftermath of September 11th, 2001. He received a Naval and Marine Corps Commendation Medal for service in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in Southeast Asia and a Navy Humanitarian Medal for the search and maritime rescue of a foreign national.Once he returned to the mainland, Dr. Tumialán completed his neurosurgery training at Emory University School of Medicine and returned to the Naval Medical Center in San Diego. He joined Barrow Brain and Spine in 2010 where he serves as the director of minimally invasive spine surgery. Dr. Tumialán’s main interests are in minimally invasive spinal surgery and motion preservation surgery as well as developing techniques for the next generation of spinal surgery.Dr. Tumialán has served as the Scientific Program Chairman and Annual Meeting Chairman for the AANS/CNS Spine Section, and currently serves as Secretary for that organization. He has also served as the Scientific Program Chair for the Society of Minimally Invasive Spinal Surgeons (SMISS) and the International Society for the Advancement of Spinal Surgery (ISASS). His interest in socioeconomics has led him to the Council of State Neurosurgical Societies (CSNS) where he has served as Treasurer, Corresponding Secretary and is currently the Vice Chair of the Organization.Dr. Tumialán is on the editorial board for both the Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine and Associate Editor for Operative Neurosurgery. He has authored over 100 peer reviewed publications and over 20 book chapters on spinal surgery.In 2020, Dr. Tumialán published a single authored textbook entitled “Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery: A Primer”. He lives in Phoenix, Arizona with his wife Andrea, his three sons (Julian, Andreas and Lucian) and his daughter (Soledad). 

Personal Finances - Managing Student Loan Debt, featuring guest contributor, Kristen BuchmanKristen joined Castlepoint Wealth Advisors  in February of 2022 as an advisor working in lockstep with the advisory team to provide client investment advice and implement the firm’s financial planning strategies.She has obtained her CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ designation and earned her bachelor’s degree in personal financial planning from Kansas State University. After earning her degree, she began her career at The Trust Company in Manhattan, Kansas. There she served as a Financial Planner and Associate Trust Officer. Kristen also served as an Adjunct Instructor for the Department of Financial Planning at Kansas State and was a recipient of the Rising Professional Award in 2022.Her passion for financial planning inspires her pursuit for lifelong learning and involvement with the Financial Planning Association, serving the chapter of Central Oklahoma (President) and the chapter of Greater Kansas City (Public Awareness committee).Resources:  Federal Student Aid Website: https://studentaid.gov/VIN Foundation Website: https://www.vin.com/studentdebtcenter/default.aspx  (again created for veterinarians, but have great student loan resources specifically the loan repayment simulator) Saving For College Website: savingforcollege.com/student-loans How to find someone who can help: CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™: https://www.letsmakeaplan.org/  Certified Student Loan Professional: https://cslainstitute.org/advisor-directory/

Host JNS Social Media Committee Member, Lior Elkaim, MD, and Paul J. Camarata, MD, FAANS welcome neurosurgery resident and JNS Social Media Manager guest, Faith C. Robertson, MD. Dr. Robertson is an aspiring academic neurosurgeon with an overarching interest in improving value in healthcare. Clinically, she is passionate about neurooncology. Her research and collaborations involve health systems (local and global), med-tech innovation, and value-based care. She has an MD from Harvard Medical School and an MSc in Global Surgery from Kings College London. She is currently a senior neurosurgery resident at Massachusetts General Hospital and is obtaining her MBA from Harvard Business School.