Media Coverage

A Buffalo News article on what people awaiting surgery can expect now that outpatient centers have reopened quotes Kevin J. Gibbons, MD, executive director of the UBMD Physicians’ Group and senior associate dean for clinical affairs in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. “The popular term ‘elective surgery’ really means scheduled surgery. Many of these procedures are medically necessary and time-sensitive. If you have a pinched nerve in your neck and it's causing significant pain, that's one thing. But if it's causing significant weakness in your dominant arm, that's another thing, especially if that weakness could become permanent if you're not treated in the appropriate time frame,” says Gibbons, associate professor of neurosurgery at the Jacobs School and chief of neurosurgery at Kaleida Health. The article also quotes Michael A. Rauh, MD, clinical assistant professor of orthopaedics.

WIVB-TV reports that it is hosting an hour-long town hall discussion with six local medicine leaders, including ECMC Chief Medical Officer Brian M. Murray, MD, who is also an associate professor of medicine in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, and Kenneth V. Snyder, MD, PhD, assistant professor of neurosurgery.

Kevin J. Gibbons, MD, senior associate dean for clinical affairs and associate professor of neurosurgery, is looking at how schools can learn lessons from a COVID-19 outbreak aboard a warship in the Pacific Ocean. The USS Theodore Roosevelt is a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier with a crew of nearly 5,000 sailors. In March it was the setting of a much-publicized COVID-19 outbreak, but Gibbons, the executive director of UBMD Physicians’ Group, said the outbreak and response could hold the keys to how schools plan a safe return to the classroom. 

Thousands of procedures in the county have been postponed by physicians since Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo ordered a halt to non-emergency surgeries to help slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. “In the middle of March, we basically told patients, ‘You’re going to have to wait six to eight weeks while we prepare the hospitals for a potential tsunami of critically ill patients,’ which we’re lucky did not appear,” said Kevin J. Gibbons, MD, senior associate dean for clinical affairs, associate professor of neurosurgery and executive director of the UBMD Physicians Group. Many surgeons who perform procedures in outpatient centers also handle the same surgeries on higher-risk patients in hospital operating rooms. Leslie J. Bisson, MD, June A. and Eugene R. Mindell, MD, Professor and Chair of orthopaedics is among those eager to resume them. “These are patients who are suffering,” he says.

WGRZ-TV reported that UBMD Physicians’ Group planned to host an online community information session to provide updates and information on COVID-19. “We know Western New Yorkers are getting a lot of different information about COVID-19. With this webinar, we plan to unpack the different information people might have and give them the latest updates,” says Kevin J. Gibbons, MD, executive director at UBMD and senior associate dean for clinical affairs in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. Gibbons is also associate professor of neurosurgery.

Neurovascular Diagnostics co-founders include entrepreneur Jeff Harvey; Hui Meng, PhD, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, who holds appointments in the departments of Biomedical Engineering and Neurosurgery; Vincent M. Tutino, PhD, research assistant professor of pathology and anatomical sciences; and Kenneth V. Snyder, MD, PhD, assistant professor of neurosurgery, radiology and neurology. The company has evolved from a promising lab project to a business with big potential. Neurovascular Diagnostics is a UB spinoff company that is developing a low-cost blood test to screen high-risk patients for unruptured brain aneurysms. 

The Buffalo News and the Lockport Union-Sun & Journal report on a new partnership for stroke imaging between Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center and doctors from the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences as UB Neurosurgery takes charge of the stroke care program at the hospital. “The treatment of stroke has changed in our lifetime. The key has been imaging,” said Kenneth V. Snyder, MD, PhD, associate professor of neurosurgery, who is part of the hospital’s treatment team.

The VA Western New York Healthcare System is planning a neurosurgery service line in collaboration with the University at Buffalo. It will add services for elective spine procedures with staffing by UB surgeons. “It’s cost effective, it’s the right thing for our community and it’s the right thing for our vets,” says Elad I. Levy, MD, L. Nelson Hopkins III, MD, Professor and Chair of neurosurgery and professor of radiology. He notes that the project has been in the works for the past two years.

An article about medical innovations being developed in Western New York interviews Adnan Siddiqui, MD, PhD, professor of neurosurgery, about the Tigertriever, which can be manipulated while inside a blood vessel to change in size and dimensions, and Anthony D. Martinez, MD, clinical associate professor of medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition, who discussed the FibroScan machine, which uses diagnostic imaging that takes about 10 minutes and can replace a more invasive, expensive and risky liver biopsy.

An article about health insurers who are requiring proof that new treatments work before they will agree to cover them looks at research being conducted at UB to develop a process to make a 3D print model of the human heart and brain to allow surgeons to test new devices, strategies or treatments for individual patients and interviews Ciprian N. Ionita, PhD, assistant professor of biomedical engineering and neurosurgery. “We have been pushing for this for a long time,” he said. “Previously, it was a domain of a hobby. But it got to the point where it became technology that was very reliable. We were sure it was going to be used in hospitals.”

An article about the health benefits of methamphetamine, which in low, pharmaceutical-grade doses may actually repair and protect the brain, and the stigma against the drug that is holding back research, interviews David Poulsen, PhD, professor of translational neuroscience in the Department of Neurosurgery, who said because it stimulates the flow of important neurotransmitters, methamphetamine may provide neuroprotection through multiple pathways. “We see not just little, but very significant improvements in cognition and behavior,” he said. “Their memories improved, functional behavior is improved.... It's not a trivial difference.”

An article about a local woman who was seriously injured when she was hit by a truck in 2016, and how colorized 3D models helped her lawyers win a $3.5 million legal settlement in the case, interviews Elad I. Levy, MD, L. Nelson Hopkins III, MD, Professor and Chair of neurosurgery and professor of radiology, who was assigned to deal with her injuries because of their complexity. The article looks at the role of UB’s surgical simulator in practicing and teaching complicated and delicate procedures. “We figure out where the hurdles are in the model first,” Levy said, “and it’s usually smooth sailing with the patient.”

The UB Neurosurgery Comprehensive Neuroscience Center, a new spine and stroke center, is expected to cut the number of spine surgeries in the region and help more patients manage their pain and limitations without opioid medications. “The goal is to avoid patients traveling to five different doctors for care plans and help provide all the care under one roof,” said Elad I. Levy, MD, L. Nelson Hopkins III, Professor and Chair of chair of neurosurgery. 

A team of UB biomedical engineers, cardiovascular specialists and neurosurgeons are working together to create and use custom-made models of the human vascular system. “We can take the same anatomy that we find in a patient, 3D print it and then perform these procedures whether to test a new device, test a new strategy or devise a treatment strategy for a particular patient,” said Adnan Siddiqui, MD, PhD, professor of neurosurgery. Vijay S. Iyer, MD, PhD, clinical associate professor of medicine in the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, was also interviewed.

Elad I. Levy, MD, professor and chair of neurosurgery, says it is a common myth that only older people suffer from strokes. Warning signs can occur at any age, he says. “If you’re feeling tingling on half of your body, a facial droop, trouble speaking, severe headache, change in consciousness, get to Gates (Vascular Institute). Get to the stroke center. Because these are warning signs of a potentially fatal stroke,” he explains.