About Us

The LSU Health Shreveport Department of Neurosurgery maintains a highly skilled clinical practice with engaged in all clinical sub-specialties of neurosurgery at LSU Health Shreveport’s partner hospitals (Ochsner LSU Health Shreveport, Willis-Knighton hospitals, and Overton Brooks VA Hospital). As part of LSU Health Shreveport, we provide a multidisciplinary, team approach to care and pride ourselves in our dedication to care for a highly diverse population and our commitment to foster an educational environment that is inclusive, supportive, and cohesive.

We have strong connection to our history. Some of the major achievements in the field of Neurosurgery in the region took place at our institution, including the national accreditation of the Ochsner LSU Health Shreveport Regional Epilepsy Center as a Level 4 Epilepsy Center making it the only Level 4 accredited Epilepsy Center in North Louisiana. Some of the most recognized names in neurosurgery have walked our halls and performed surgeries in our operating rooms, including Ed Benzel, Robert Rosenwasser, Donald Smith, Anil Nanda, and Prashant Chittiboina, among many others. We feel a strong connection to this history, and it inspires us to continue this tradition of excellence in neurosurgical education and clinical practice.

Our Neurosurgery team is led by a productive group of clinically active neurosurgeons and PhD researchers. The nationally recognized Stroke Center, awarded the Gold Plus Achievement Award and the Target Stroke Honor Roll Elite Plus Award by the American Heart Association, is housed within the Department of Neurosurgery in partnership with the Departments of Neurology and Radiology.

Our comprehensive residency training program is among the best in the U.S., and our residents are among the most competitive fellowship and employment candidates upon completion of the program. Our leadership team is dedicated to ensuring that our trainees leave LSU Health Shreveport with the surgical skills and expertise needed to manage the most complex of patient needs, the ability to lead others, the highest level of professionalism, and marketability as they move on in their careers in neurosurgery.

What is Neurosurgery?

Neurosurgery is much more than brain surgery. Neurosurgery is a surgical specialty that involves the conservative and surgical management of a wide variety of disorders affecting the brain, the spinal cord and spinal column, and the peripheral nerves. Common conditions managed by neurosurgeons include brain tumors, intracranial aneurysms, head injuries, and a broad spectrum of disorders affecting the spine including spinal canal stenosis, herniated discs, tumors, fractures, and spinal deformities.

Although it is fundamentally a surgical discipline, neurosurgery requires knowledge of neurology, critical care, trauma care, and radiology. In fact, neurosurgeons manage a more diverse group of conditions than many surgical sub-specialties that focus on a particular organ or organ system. Today, neurosurgery is one of the most technologically involved surgical specialties with many contributions from computer-based neuronavigational technology, spinal biomechanics and instrumentation, gene therapy for brain tumor management, and catheter-driven endovascular techniques, as well as continued advances in neuroradiological technology.

Although most neurosurgeons today continue to practice general neurosurgery, the rapid advancement of the field of neurosurgery in recent years has generated the development of numerous sub-specialities within the field and more neurosurgeons are electing to enter optional one-year fellowships after their residency training. 

Sub-specialties in Neurosurgery today include:

  • Neuro-oncology
  • Spinal Surgery
  • Epilepsy Surgery
  • Functional Neurosurgery
  • Cerebrovascular Surgery
  • Pediatric Neurosurgery
  • Skull Base Surgery