Newswise — WASHINGTON, D.C. (May 6, 2015) — The conferral this year of the inaugural Bagan Family Fellowship, formally awarded during the 83rd American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) Annual Scientific Meeting Plenary Session, marks significant achievements for the Neurosurgery Research and Education Foundation (NREF) and Merwyn Bagan, MD, MPH, FAANS(L), and his wife, Carol. As NREF’s largest donation from a single family, the Bagans’ extraordinary gift sets an example for others to emulate. The new Young Clinician Investigator Award, endowed by the Bagans, creates a permanent tribute to Merwyn Bagan’s globe-spanning dedication to medicine, neurosurgery and neurosurgical education throughout his professional career.
The award supports junior faculty who are pursuing careers as clinical investigators. Applicants must be neurosurgeons within two years of the end of their clinical training and who are full-time faculty in a teaching institution located in North America.
Fund Awardee, Amanda Muhs Saratsis, MD, assistant professor of neurological surgery at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and an attending physician at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Hospital of Chicago, will examine the underpinnings of pediatric brainstem glioma. Saratsis hopes to identify potential therapeutic targets and biomarkers of this disease that will improve clinical diagnosis and management.
“Diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) is the most deadly solid tumor in children. There is rapid progression, poor response to therapy and an average survival of less than one year from diagnosis. All children diagnosed with DIPG will die of this cancer as currently there is no effective treatment. However, recently we identified increased expression of an extracellular matrix protein in DIPG tumor tissue and in cerebrospinal fluid. My research aim is to elucidate the mechanism by which this protein contributes to DIPG formation and disease progression, hoping this information will help us develop more effective treatment for children with this disease,” said Saratsis.
“Saratsis’ research is exciting. In the past 40 years, there has been little change in the treatment paradigm or overall survival for children with DIPG. It is the honor of NREF and the Bagan Fund to support this promising research that could chart a course that changes the outcome for children diagnosed with DIPG, which currently has the highest mortality rate of all pediatric solid tumors,” commented Jon Robertson, MD, FAANS, and chair of the NREF.
More on Merwyn Bagan, MD, MPH, FAANS(L)
Bagan earned his undergraduate degree from Dartmouth College and his medical degree from Boston University in 1962. He completed his neurosurgical training at the National Institutes of Health and The Johns Hopkins Hospital. In private practice until 1993, he served as president and chairman of Healthsource New Hampshire (1985-1993) and chairman of Healthsource, Inc. (1985-1997). In 1995, he received a master's degree in public health from Boston University's School of Public Health.
In 1995, the Bagans moved to Nepal, where he worked as a volunteer at the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital (TUTH). He was named visiting professor at the Tribhuvan University Institute of Medicine's department of surgery in 1997, establishing a neurosurgical unit there and training two general surgeons to become neurosurgeons. Bagan was instrumental in obtaining more than $1 million in medical equipment for the hospital. In recognition of his contributions, His Majesty King Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev of Nepal presented Bagan with the Suprabala Gorkha Dakshin Bahu Award.
In addition to his contributions to neurosurgical practice, Bagan also has played an active leadership role in several professional medical associations, having served as president of the AANS and the New Hampshire Medical Society. He was treasurer and vice chairman of the Council of State Neurosurgical Societies and a member of the American College of Surgeons Advisory Council for Neurological Surgery. He has received numerous awards for his work over the years, including the Congress of Neurological Surgeons' Distinguished Service Award, the Boston City Hospital Ether Prize, the Alumni Award from Boston University and the Distinguished Alumni Award from the Boston University School of Medicine.
In honor of his accomplishments and outstanding service to the development of neurosurgery and care of needy patients in Nepal, the AANS honored Bagan with the 2000 Humanitarian Award.
Media Representatives: The 2015 AANS Annual Scientific Meeting press kit includes releases on highlighted scientific research, AANS officers and award winners, Neurosurgery Awareness Week and other relevant information about this year’s program. Those releases will also be posted under the “Media” area on the 2015 AANS Annual Scientific Meeting website. If you have interest in a topic related to neurosurgery or would like to interview a neurosurgeon — either onsite or via telephone — during this year’s event, please contact Alice Kelsey, AANS director of marketing and communications, via email at [email protected].
About the 2015 AANS Annual Scientific Meeting: Attended by neurosurgeons, neurosurgical residents, medical students, neuroscience nurses, clinical specialists, physician assistants, allied health professionals and other medical professionals, the AANS Annual Scientific Meeting is the largest gathering of neurosurgeons in the nation, with an emphasis on the field’s latest research and technological advances. More than 1,200 scientific abstracts were presented for review at the 2015 AANS Annual Scientific Meeting, and the scientific presentations given at this year’s event represent cutting-edge examples of the incredible developments taking place within the field of neurosurgery. Additional information about the 2015 AANS Annual Scientific Meeting and the meeting program can be found here.
Founded in 1931 as the Harvey Cushing Society, the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) is a scientific and educational association with more than 9,000 members worldwide. The AANS is dedicated to advancing the specialty of neurological surgery in order to provide the highest quality of neurosurgical care to the public. Fellows of the AANS are board-certified by the American Board of Neurological Surgery, the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, or the Mexican Council of Neurological Surgery, A.C. Neurosurgery is the medical specialty concerned with the prevention, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation of disorders that affect the spinal column, spinal cord, brain, nervous system and peripheral nerves.
For more information, visit www.AANS.org.
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