Karin Muraszko

Last updated
Karin Muraszko
Born
Karin Marie Muraszko

(1955-06-19) June 19, 1955 (age 68)
Jersey City, New Jersey
CitizenshipAmerican
Education Yale University
OccupationNeurosurgeon
SpouseScott Van Sweringen
Children2
Medical career
Institutions University of Michigan

Karin Marie Muraszko is an American pediatric neurosurgeon. [1]

Contents

As of 2012, she was the Julian T. Hoff Professor and chair of the department of neurosurgery at the University of Michigan. [1]

She is the first woman to head a neurosurgery department at any medical school in the US. [2] She specializes in brain and spinal cord abnormalities. [3] She was a 2020 electee to the National Academy of Medicine in pediatric neurosurgery. [4]

Early life and education

She was born June 19, [5] 1955 [6] in Jersey City, New Jersey and learned to read at age five. [4] She has a spinal cord abnormality, spina bifida, [3] [7] and underwent treatment as a child at Babies Hospital in New York, the same hospital where she would later also spend her residency. [4]

She graduated with a B.S. at Yale University in 1977 with a major in history and biology. [6] [5] Muraszko obtained her medical degree from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1981. [6] [5] She initially intended to specialize in psychiatry but switched to neurological surgery in her third year. [7] She was the first neurosurgery resident with a physical disability at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center where the chairman of the neurological surgery department described her as "...the most outstanding person I've met in medicine" and further "...her intelligence, tenacity and motivation have enabled her to make a remarkable contribution to the care of our patients". [6] She was the first woman admitted, in 1981, into the neurosurgery residency at Columbia's New York Neurological Institute. [4] She completed her residency in 1988. [8]

Career

From 1988 to 1990 Muraszko worked as a Senior Staff Fellow at the National Institutes of Health-NINDS. She moved to the University of Michigan in 1990 where she headed the pediatric neurosurgery service from 1995. [9] She became a professor in 2003. [4] During her time teaching, among her neurosurgical students was Sanjay Gupta. [10] In 2005 she became chair of the Department of Neurosurgery, [9] in the proces becoming the first woman to chair a neurosurgery department in the United States. [2] [4]

She is the medical director of "Project Shunt", the neurosurgery component of an annual medical mission by the Michigan, Ohio, chapter of the medical charity "Healing the Children" to Guatemala, which has one of the highest incidences of spina bifida in the world. [11] She began leading the mission at the University of Michigan in 1998, leading a team of surgeons, residents and nurses in Guatemala City. [4]

Research

Muraszko is a specialist in pediatric neurosurgery. Her main interests are treating brain tumors, Chiari malformations, congenital spinal and brain abnormalities and complex craniofacial anomalies. [12]

Society positions

Muraszko is the first woman to serve as director of the American Board of Neurological Surgery, and still was the only one as of 2010. [13] [9]

Muraszko serves on the Physician's Advisory Committee of the Spina Bifida Association of America and the March of Dimes. [9]

Muraszko was elected as the first woman to be president of the Society of Neurological Surgeons during the SNS Centennial celebration year. She is a founding member of Women in Neurosurgery.[ citation needed ] She was a 2020 electee to the National Academy of Medicine in pediatric neurosurgery. [4]

Awards and honors

Personal life

She is married to Scott Van Sweringen, an architect; they have twin children. [8] [7] She lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan. [10]

Selected articles

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neurosurgery</span> Medical specialty of disorders which affect any portion of the nervous system.

Neurosurgery or neurological surgery, known in common parlance as brain surgery, is the medical specialty concerned with the surgical treatment of disorders which affect any portion of the nervous system including the brain, spinal cord and peripheral nervous system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Syringomyelia</span> Disorder in which a cyst forms in the spinal cord

Syringomyelia is a generic term referring to a disorder in which a cyst or cavity forms within the spinal cord. Often, syringomyelia is used as a generic term before an etiology is determined. This cyst, called a syrinx, can expand and elongate over time, destroying the spinal cord. The damage may result in loss of feeling, paralysis, weakness, and stiffness in the back, shoulders, and extremities. Syringomyelia may also cause a loss of the ability to feel extremes of hot or cold, especially in the hands. It may also lead to a cape-like bilateral loss of pain and temperature sensation along the upper chest and arms. The combination of symptoms varies from one patient to another depending on the location of the syrinx within the spinal cord, as well as its extent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hydrocephalus</span> Abnormal increase in cerebrospinal fluid in the ventricles of the brain

Hydrocephalus is a condition in which an accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) occurs within the brain. This typically causes increased pressure inside the skull. Older people may have headaches, double vision, poor balance, urinary incontinence, personality changes, or mental impairment. In babies, it may be seen as a rapid increase in head size. Other symptoms may include vomiting, sleepiness, seizures, and downward pointing of the eyes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spina bifida</span> Birth defect of the spinal cord

Spina bifida is a birth defect in which there is incomplete closing of the spine and the membranes around the spinal cord during early development in pregnancy. There are three main types: spina bifida occulta, meningocele and myelomeningocele. Meningocele and myelomeningocele may be grouped as spina bifida cystica. The most common location is the lower back, but in rare cases it may be in the middle back or neck.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chiari malformation</span> Medical condition

Chiari malformation (CM) is a structural defect in the cerebellum, characterized by a downward displacement of one or both cerebellar tonsils through the foramen magnum. CMs can cause headaches, difficulty swallowing, vomiting, dizziness, neck pain, unsteady gait, poor hand coordination, numbness and tingling of the hands and feet, and speech problems. Less often, people may experience ringing or buzzing in the ears, weakness, slow heart rhythm, or fast heart rhythm, curvature of the spine (scoliosis) related to spinal cord impairment, abnormal breathing, such as central sleep apnea, characterized by periods of breathing cessation during sleep, and, in severe cases, paralysis.

Tethered cord syndrome (TCS) refers to a group of neurological disorders that relate to malformations of the spinal cord. Various forms include tight filum terminale, lipomeningomyelocele, split cord malformations (diastematomyelia), occult, dermal sinus tracts, and dermoids. All forms involve the pulling of the spinal cord at the base of the spinal canal, literally a tethered cord. The spinal cord normally hangs loose in the canal, free to move up and down with growth, and with bending and stretching. A tethered cord, however, is held taut at the end or at some point in the spinal canal. In children, a tethered cord can force the spinal cord to stretch as they grow. In adults the spinal cord stretches in the course of normal activity, usually leading to progressive spinal cord damage if untreated. TCS is often associated with the closure of a spina bifida. It can be congenital, such as in tight filum terminale, or the result of injury later in life.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gail Rosseau</span>

Gail Linskey Rosseau is Clinical Professor of Neurosurgery at George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Washington, D.C. Prior to this position, she was Associate Chairman of Inova Fairfax Hospital Department of Neurosciences. She previously served as director of skull base surgery of NorthShore University HealthSystem. She is board-certified and has been an examiner for the American Board of Neurological Surgery. She has been elected to the leadership of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies, and the Société de Neurochirurgie de Langue Française.

The MOMS Trial was a clinical trial that studied treatment of a birth defect called myelomeningocele, which is the most severe form of spina bifida. The study looked at prenatal and postnatal surgery to repair this defect. The first major phase concluded that prenatal surgery had strong, long-term benefits and some risks.

The Chiari Institute is a medical institution that focuses on the treatment of Arnold–Chiari malformation and syringomyelia. It was established in 2001 by the North Shore-LIJ Health System, and is located in Great Neck, New York. The institute was founded by Thomas H. Milhorat, MD shortly after he was appointed the Chairman of Neurosurgery at the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System, and Paolo Bolognese, MD. It is now led by Raj Narayan, MD. Paolo Bolognese left TCI on September, 1st, 2014

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aaron Cohen-Gadol</span> American neurosurgeon

Aaron A. Cohen-Gadol is a professor of neurological surgery in the department of neurosurgery at Indiana University School of Medicine and a neurosurgeon at Indiana University Health specializing in the surgical treatment of complex brain tumors, vascular malformations, cavernous malformations, etc. He performs removal of brain tumors via minimally invasive endoscopic techniques, which use the nasal pathways instead of opening the skull.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Rutka</span> Canadian neurosurgeon

James Rutka is a Canadian neurosurgeon from Toronto, Canada. Rutka served as RS McLaughlin Professor and Chair of the Department of Surgery in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto from 2011 – 2022. He subspecializes in pediatric neurosurgery at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), and is a Senior Scientist in the Research Institute at SickKids. His main clinical interests include the neurosurgical treatment of children with brain tumours and epilepsy. His research interests lie in the molecular biology of human brain tumours – specifically in the determination of the mechanisms by which brain tumours grow and invade. He is the Director of the Arthur and Sonia Labatt Brain Tumour Research Centre at SickKids, and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Neurosurgery.

Benjamin Warf is an American pediatric neurosurgeon. Warf was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in 2012.

Pediatric Neurosurgery is a subspecialty of neurosurgery; which includes surgical procedures that are related to the nervous system, brain and spinal cord; that treats children with operable neurological disorders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Couldwell</span>

William T. Couldwell is a Canadian neurosurgeon who is professor and Chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Utah, a position he assumed in 2001.

Eldon Leroy Foltz was born in Fort Collins, Colorado, Eldon L. Foltz grew up in East Lansing, Michigan. His father was Professor of Electrical Engineering at Michigan State University, and Foltz himself would go on to have a distinguished career as an academic and neurosurgeon.

Stewart Dunsker M.D., a neurosurgeon, is Professor and Director of Spinal Neurosurgery at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, and Director of the Department of Neurosurgery at the Christ Hospital, Cincinnati, Ohio.

Global neurosurgery is a field at the intersection of public health and clinical neurosurgery. It aims to expand provision of improved and equitable neurosurgical care globally.

Petra Klinge is a neurosurgeon and academic. She is professor of neurosurgery at Brown University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Claire Karekezi</span>

Claire Karekezi is a Rwandan neurosurgeon at the Rwanda Military Hospital in Kigali, Rwanda. As the first female neurosurgeon in Rwanda, and one of eight neurosurgeons serving a population of 13 million, Karekezi serves as an advocate for women in neurosurgery. She has become an inspiration for young people pursuing neurosurgery, particularly young women.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sandi Lam</span> Canadian pediatric neurosurgeon

Sandi Lam is a Canadian pediatric neurosurgeon and is known for her research in minimally invasive endoscopic hemispherectomy for patients with epilepsy. Lam is the Vice Chair for Pediatric Neurological Surgery at Northwestern University and the Division Chief of Pediatric Neurosurgery at Lurie Children's Hospital. She has spent her career advancing pediatric brain surgery capabilities globally through her work in Kenya performing surgeries as well as training and mentoring local residents and fellows.

References

  1. 1 2 "Medical Development". Medicineatmichigan.org. Archived from the original on 2012-06-03. Retrieved 2012-06-18.
  2. 1 2 "Department of Neurosurgery | University of Michigan Health System". Med.umich.edu. Archived from the original on 2012-08-24. Retrieved 2013-02-15.
  3. 1 2 "IF Spina Bifida Hydrocephalus / Hydrocefalie — IF Spina Bifida Hydrocephalus / Hydrocefalie". Ifglobal.org. 2005-06-27. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2013-02-15.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Mijangos, Julia Hickey (2021-05-17). "Alumni Profile: Karin Muraszko'81". Columbia Medicine Magazine. Retrieved 2022-11-02.
  5. 1 2 3 Karin M. Muraszko, MD, FAANS, The Society of Neurological Surgeons, 2023
  6. 1 2 3 4 Johnson, Sharon (1983-07-18). "Disabled In Professions Grow". The New York Times . Retrieved 2017-10-08.
  7. 1 2 3 Steinberg, Stephanie (September 9, 2011). "Paving the Way: Dr. Karin Muraszko reshapes the medical field as the first (and only) female chair of neurosurgery". The Michigan Daily. Retrieved 10 October 2017.
  8. 1 2 "The Society of Neurological Surgeons". Societyns.org. Archived from the original on 2014-02-27. Retrieved 2012-06-18.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Honor Your Neurosurgical Mentor". Neurosurgery Research & Education Foundation. 1955-06-19. Archived from the original on 2017-10-09. Retrieved 2017-10-08.
  10. 1 2 "Doctor with spina bifida defies expectations". CNN. 2016-04-27. Retrieved 2022-11-02.
  11. ↑ "Healing The Children". Htcmichiganohio.org. Retrieved 2012-06-18.
  12. ↑ Redefining Mentorship: A Natural-Born Neurosurgical Leader (PDF). AANS "Redefining the Specialty" 2012 Annual Report (Report). American Association of Neurological Surgery. 2012. p. 20. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2022-03-13. Retrieved 2017-10-08.
  13. ↑ "Strides Made in Recruiting Women to Neurosurgery – More than 20 Percent of Neurosurgical Residents Now Female". Newswise.com. 2010-10-16. Retrieved 2012-06-18.
  14. ↑ "Foundation: Awards — Association of Women Surgeons". Womensurgeons.org. Archived from the original on 2012-07-22. Retrieved 2012-06-18.
  15. ↑ "Faculty News and Notes" (PDF). Neurosurgery - News and Notes. No. 12. University of Michigan Health System. 2014. p. 10.
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