Minnesota Neurosurgical Society

Dr. Joshua Hughes won the Piepgras Award for Basic Science Research with his paper, Magnetic resonance elastography and slip interface imaging of meningiomas, pituitary adenomas and vestibular schwannomas. Dr. Christopher Grafeo won the Piepgras Award for Clinical Research with his presentation, Type II odontoid process fracture in octogenarians: surgical versus nonoperative management. Both presentations were given at the Society’s annual academic meeting on Saturday, September 19th, 2015 and the awards were announced by the Society President, Dr. Matthew Hunt, during the dinner at Pazzaluna Restaurant that evening. Each recipient also received a $500 stipend from the Society.

Catherine Miller, MD (MAPK pathway inhibitor therapy for progressive pediatric astrocytomas) and Anthony Burrows, MD  (Outcomes from Staphylococcus aureus colonization screening and in patients undergoing elective neurologic surgery) received honorable mentions and a $250 stipend for their presentations in the clinical and research categories respectively.

The Society chose fourteen presentations to be included in the 2015 Academic meeting. Congratulations to Drs. Hughes, Grafeo, Miller and Burrows, and to all the contributors to this year’s program

The Society’s awards for outstanding clinical and basic science research papers are named after Dr. David Piepgras who was born in Luverne, Minnesota and completed his Bachelor of Arts and Medical degrees from the University of Minnesota. After internship in New Hampshire, three years of military service and one year of general surgery residency, his neurosurgical residency was completed at Mayo Clinic.  He remained in the Mayo Clinic Neurosurgery Department thereafter, being named Professor in 1988 and serving as Chair of Neurosurgery from 1992-2004. Dr. Piepgras was president of the AANS Joint Section of Cerebrovascular Diseases from 1990-1991. He held the position as President of the American Academy of Neurological Surgery from 2002-2003 and the Society of Neurological Surgeons (“Senior Society”) from 2003-2004. He served on the RRC for Neurological Surgery and the American Board of Neurological Surgery, including Chair from 2002-2003.  Dr. Piepgras’ research and clinical interests include the surgical treatment and epidemiology of occlusive cerebrovascular disease and the management of arteriovenous malformations and intracranial aneurysms.  He has extensively studied the natural history of unruptured intracranial aneurysms, including being Co-investigator on the sentinel study funded by the NINDS. David has published over 200 peer-reviewed journal articles, multiple book chapters and has served as a reviewer for Neurosurgery, Stroke and The New England Journal of Medicine. He has been an invited speaker and held many visiting professorships all over the world. He remains clinically active in The Mayo Clinic Neurosurgery Program.