News

The Duke Institute for Brain Sciences recently awarded Uros Topalovic, a postdoctoral scholar in the Suthana Lab, with a $25,000 Germinator Award. Topalovic is interested in helping people with epilepsy and related brain disorders use virtual reality to improve their performance on learning tasks. 

Duke Neurosurgery welcomed three new interns to the department during Match Day 2026 on March 20.

Researchers in the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center at Duke

Duke Neurosurgery ranked sixth for funding nationally among neurosurgery departments in the U.S.

In the summer of 2025, Charlotte, NC resident Marisa Chow was 28 when she had a stroke. Months later, she was diagnosed with Moyamoya disease -- a rare cerebrovascular condition where narrowed arteries reduce the brain's blood supply. Chow came to Duke Health, where neurosurgeon Erik F. Hauck, MD, performed a cerebral artery bypass surgery to improve blood flow in Chow’s brain. Now Chow says she’s “back to how I was, honestly, not even pre-surgery, but before I started experiencing all of the symptoms.”

A 28-year-old female patient experienced weakness on the right side of her face, dysarthria, and numbness on her face and hand, with episodes occurring several times.

Kate McDaniel, PhD, MSW, has been named the new director of Duke AHE

As treatments improve for cancer that has spread to the brain and patients live longer, understanding the long-term effect of these treatments on brain function is vital. Despite treatment advances, up to 90% of patients with brain metastases experience cognitive decline due to both their cancer and the long-term side effects of their treatments.

A 44-year-old female patient came to Anoop Patel, MD, Duke neurosurgeon, after being diagnosed with a meningioma brain tumor. The patient presented to an ED in South Carolina after experiencing a seizure. 

Nandan Lad, MD, PhD, was inducted to the American Academy of Neurological Surgery at the society’s annual meeting in Athens, Greece.