Chair's Welcome
Welcome to UCLA Department of Neurosurgery
Welcome to the UCLA Department of Neurosurgery. It has been an honor and a privilege to work with our brilliant team of neurosurgeons and neuroscientists, both as a faculty member within the department since 1998 and more recently as the department chair since August 2017.
We are focused every day on extending the frontiers of knowledge, increasing our understanding of the brain and spine, and advancing treatments for a full range of neurological conditions. We are consistently inspired by the courage of our patients as they face complex and often life-threatening challenges, while entrusting us with their clinical care.
Our innovative, energetic faculty are at the top of their game. We have incredible depth and breadth in all the major subspecialties of neurosurgery — spanning brain tumors, cerebrovascular diseases, spinal disorders and peripheral nerve conditions, functional neurosurgery and epilepsy, traumatic brain injury, and pediatric neurosurgery. We are proud to offer the most advanced clinical care and to support our neurosurgeon-scientists as they further leading-edge research and develop new treatments.
Millions of Americans battle disorders of the brain and spine each year, and these disorders have become the number one cause of disability and loss of life in the nation. At UCLA Neurosurgery, we strive to meet the urgent and increasing need for pioneering neurosurgical care, serving families throughout Los Angeles and people around the world who will someday be healed by treatments developed at UCLA.
We stand now at the precipice of many next-generation innovations, and there are numerous milestones to highlight, so I will mention just a few. The UCLA Brain Tumor Center cared for a record number of patients with brain tumors. Our brain cancer patients are living longer than those treated at any other hospital, partially due to novel treatments and clinical trials developed here at UCLA. We are the only center in Southern California designated by the National Cancer Institute as a Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE). At the UCLA Spine Center, our spine neurosurgeons are working on neurobionics and neuromodulation to enable patients with severe paralysis to regain movement — to stand, step, and recover voluntary muscle control once lost to injury. In collaboration with our colleagues in Neurology and Psychiatry, our UCLA Functional Neurosurgery Program is developing deep brain stimulation and novel neuromodulation techniques for treating conditions such as epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, Tourette’s syndrome, and depression. And our UCLA Cerebrovascular Program is utilizing new surgical and endovascular techniques for the acute treatment of stroke, aneurysms, and other vascular diseases affecting the central nervous system. Moreover, researchers in our UCLA Brain Injury Research Center recently discovered that the optimal brain fuels used for recovery after traumatic brain injury may differ between men and women, which could have significant implications for the development of gender-specific personalized treatments to enhance neurologic recovery. Finally, our UCLA Pediatric Neurosurgery Program provides cutting-edge, state-of-the-art treatments for children with the most complex neurological disorders, such as epilepsy, brain tumors, Moya Moya disease and other cerebrovascular disorders.
None of this would be possible without the department’s sustaining partnerships and important collaborations. Nor would our work be possible without the trust placed in our team by our patients and their families, who are at the heart of all that we do. From university colleagues and community leaders to patients and their families, philanthropists and friends — we appreciate your presence and your support. Thank you for helping UCLA Neurosurgery to constantly expand and realize our vision. Working together, our team is creating a brighter future for our patients.
We welcome you to UCLA Neurosurgery!
Sincerely,
Linda M. Liau, MD, PhD, MBA
Professor and Chair
Department of Neurosurgery
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA