Faculty
Raymond Sawaya, M.D.
Professor and Chair
Faculty members in the Department of Neurosurgery are listed below according to faculty appointment and area of special interest. Faculty members may be contacted by calling the main departmental number, 713-798-4696.
Clinical Faculty
Adult Neurosurgery
Youssef Comair, M.D.
Professor and Vice Chair; Chief of Service, St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital
Special Interests: Epilepsy surgery, brain tumors, brain mapping and surgery in eloquent brain locations, pituitary tumors, parasellar tumors, Chiari malformations and syringomyelia, trigeminal neuralgia, radiosurgery, and surgery for movement disorders - Parkinson’s disease and torticollis
Daniel H. Kim, M.D.
Professor; Director, Spinal Neurosurgery and Reconstructive Peripheral Nerve Surgery
Special Interests: Minimally invasive endoscopic spinal neurosurgery, spinal cord and peripheral nerve injuries and regeneration, reconstructive repair of complex spinal injuries, and traumatic head injury
Daniel Yoshor, M.D.
Associate Professor; Director, Epilepsy Surgery Program; Residency Program Director
Special Interests: Epilepsy surgery, brain tumors in eloquent locations, acoustic neuromas, pituitary adenoma, meningioma, glioma, vascular malformations, cervical spine surgery, stereotactic radiosurgery.
Edward A.M. Duckworth, M.D.
Assistant Professor; Director, Cerebrovascular and Skull Base Neurosurgery
Special Interests: cerebral aneurysms, cerebrovascular discease including all types of vascular malformations, carotid stenosis, skull base tumors
Ibrahim Omeis, M.D.
Assistant Professor
Special Interests: spinal neurosurgery, complex spine surgery, spinal deformity, spinal tumors, spinal trauma, minimally invasive spine surgery, artificial disc surgery, dynamic stabilization
Phillip C. Phan, M.D.
Assistant Professor; Director, Interventional Neuromodulation Pain Management
Special Interests: Interventional pain management, interventional treatments for complex pain syndrome, neuropathic pain - reflex sympathetic dystrophy (CRPS), post-spinal fusion surgical pain syndromes, cancer pain treatment, pediatric pain syndromes, headaches and facial pain (trigeminal neuralgia), vertebral compression fractures (vertebroplasty/Kyphoplasty), implantable pain treatment devices (spinal cord stimulator and pain pump), pelvic pain and interstitial cystitis pain syndromes
Texas Children's Hospital
Thomas G. Luerssen, M.D., FACS, FAAP
Professor; Chief of Service, Texas Children’s Hospital
Special Interests: Traumatic brain injury, neurologic critical care, cranial and craniofacial reconstruction, synostosis, tethered spinal cord
Robert C. Dauser, M.D.
Associate Professor
Special Interests: Brain and spinal cord tumors, neuro-oncology, and cerebrovascular disease including moyamoya disease
Andrew Jea, M.D.
Assistant Professor
Special Interests: Complex pediatric spine problems including fracture and neoplasms, spinal cord injuries, surgical epilepsy, brain and spinal cord tumors
Daniel J. Curry, M.D.
Assistant Professor
Special Interests: Functional pediatric neurosurgery, epilepsy surgery, movement disorders and spasticity, pain management
William E. Whitehead, M.D.
Assistant Professor
Special Interests: Brain and spinal cord tumors, neuro-oncology, hydrocephalus, congenital malformations, intraventricular endoscopy
William R. Cheek, M.D.
Professor Emeritus
Special Interests: Medical education
Ben Taub General Hospital
Shankar P. Gopinath, M.D.
Assistant Professor; Chief of Service, Ben Taub General Hospital
Special Interests: Neurotrauma and general neurosurgery
Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center
Bruce L. Ehni, M.D.
Associate Professor; Chief of Service, Veterans Affairs Medical Center
Special Interests: Spinal and cerebrovascular surgery, peripheral nerve surgery
Neurosurgical Intensive Care
Claudia S. Robertson, M.D.
Professor; Director, The Center for Neurosurgical Intensive Care, Ben Taub General Hospital
Special Interests: Neurosurgical intensive care, physiological disturbances after head injury
Neuropsychology
Harvey S. Levin, Ph.D.
Professor
Special Interests: Neuropsychological changes in epilepsy and Parkinson's disease, cognitive changes associated with surgical interventions for epilepsy and Parkinson's disease, functional neuroimaging
Basic Science Faculty
H. David Shine, Ph.D.
Associate Professor; Joint Appointments in the Departments of Neuroscience and Molecular and Cell Biology; Associate Member, Baylor College of Medicine Center for Cell and Gene Therapy
Special Interests: Molecular biology, gene therapy of brain tumors, neural regeneration
Vladimir V. Didenko, M.D., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Special Interests: Molecular biology, mechanisms of apoptosis
Michael A. K. Liebschner, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Special Interests: Spine/bone biomechanics, bio-medical engineering; computer-assisted orthopedic surgery, tissue engineering
Leela Cherian Mathew, Ph.D.
Instructor
Special Interests: Brain injury and cerebral metabolism, spinal cord injury
Joint Appointments
The following is a list of joint appointments in the Department of Neurosurgery and the department in which each is primarily appointed.
J. Clay Goodman, M.D.
Professor (Pathology)
Winifred J. Hamilton, Ph.D., SM
Assistant Professor (Medicine)
Harvey S. Levin, Ph.D.
Professor (Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation)
George A. Lopez, M.D.
Assistant Professor (Neurology)
Michel E. Mawad, M.D.
Professor (Radiology)
Voluntary Faculty
William R. Cheek, M.D.
Professor Emeritus
Richard Harper, M.D.
Assistant Professor
Ian E. McCutcheon, M.D.
Adjunct Professor, The University of Texas, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
H. Julia Hannay, Ph.D.
Adjunct Professor, The University of Houston
Franco DeMonte, M.D.,
Adjunct Professor, The University of Texas, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
Robert G. Grossman, M.D.
Adjunct Professor, The Methodist Neurological Institute
David S. Baskin, M.D.
Adjunct Professor, The Methodist Neurological Institute
Richard K. Simpson, M.D.
Adjunct Professor, The Methodist Neurological Institute
Frederick Lang, M.D.
Adjunct Professor, The University of Texas, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
James E. Rose, M.D.
Adjunct Associate Professor, The Methodist Neurological Institute
Jerry Bob Blacklok, M.D.
Adjunct Associate Professor, The Methodist Neurological Institute
Oliver Bogler, M.D.
Adjunct Associate Professor, The University of Texas, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
Seiji Kondo, M.D., Ph.D.
Adjunct Associate Professor, The University of Texas, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
Amy Heimberger, M.D.
Adjunct Associate Professor, The University of Texas, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
Jeffrey S. Weinberg, M.D.
Adjunct Associate Professor, The University of Texas, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
Dima Suki, Ph.D.
Adjunct Associate Professor, The University of Texas, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
Laurence D. Rhines, M.D.
Adjunct Associate Professor, The University of Texas, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
Sujit Prabhu, M.D.
Adjunct Assistant Professor, The University of Texas, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
Suyun Huang, M.D., Ph.D.
Adjunct Assistant Professor, The University of Texas, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
Nicholas B. Levine, M.D.
Adjunct Assistant Professor, The University of Texas, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
Philip L. Gildenberg, M.D.
Clinical Professor
Alfonso E. Aldama-Luebbert, M.D.
Clinical Assistant Professor
David A. Cech, M.D.
Clinical Assistant Professor
Thomas J. Mims, Jr., M.D.
Clinical Assistant Professor
Charles R. Neblett, M.D.
Clinical Assistant Professor
Warren D. Parker, M.D.
Clinical Assistant Professor
Stuart M. Weil, M.D.
Clinical Assistant Professor
Rajesh K. Bindal, M.D.
Clinical Assistant Professor
Subrata Ghosh, M.D.
Clinical Assistant Professor
John Berry, M.D.
Clinical Assistant Professor
Mark J. Kubala, M.D.
Clinical Instructor
Edward C. Murphy, M.D.
Clinical Instructor