Visited University of Pittsburgh under the supervision of Dr. Dade Lunsford

Dr. Hao Long is a board-certified neurosurgeon and an Assistant Professor in Department of Neurosurgery at Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China. He has specialized in stereotactic radiosurgery and functional neurosurgery. His clinical and scientific interests mainly focus on the comprehensive treatment of brain metastases, primary central nervous system lymphoma, glioma, amongst others.

Dr. Long has published research papers and delivered several reports at academic conferences including the 19th International LGKS Meeting in Dubai 2018, Educational Course of International Stereotactic Radiosurgery Society in Tianjin in 2018 and most recently, the 6th Meeting of the Asian LGKS in Sendai, Japan in January 2019.

His aim with the Steiner Fellowship is to receive systemic training in all aspects of Gamma Knife Radiosurgery and clinical research methods.

Visited Roswell Park Cancer Institute under the supervision of Dr. Dheerendra Prasad

Dr. Victor Goulenko is a board-certified neurosurgeon at the Paulo Niemeyer State Brain Institute (Instituto Estadual do Cérebro Paulo Niemeyer-IECPN), from where he completed his training as well. He is currently an Attending Surgeon in the functional neurosurgery department.

Dr. Goulenko’s primary interests are in the treatment of movement disorders, trigeminal neuralgia, epilepsy and neuro-oncology. He has published several papers, book chapters and participated in various neurosurgery meetings and congresses such as Neurological Disorders Summit and the American Society for Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery (ASSFN), both of which were held in the U.S. in 2018. In addition, he has visited hospitals such as National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in London, the Cleveland Clinic and the University of Colorado to improve his skills and knowledge.

His aim with the Steiner Fellowship is to gain in-depth as well as diverse experience working with Gamma Knife surgery for functional disorders and other indications and to get opportunities to conduct multi-center research in this field.

Visited Cleveland Clinic under the supervision of Dr. Lilyana Angelov

Dr. Shweta Kedia is an Assistant Professor in Neurosurgery at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, India and has been working at its Gamma Knife center since 2014. She recently completed her three-month fellowship under the guidance of Dr. Lilyana Angelov at Cleveland Clinic and got an opportunity to further refine her skills. According to Dr. Angelov, “It was truly a wonderful opportunity to host Dr. Kedia at Cleveland Clinic.  Her commitment and passion to learn was exceptional and I think our global Gamma Knife community has been enriched because of this Steiner Fellowship.”

Dr. Kedia, whose primary interests are in neuro-oncology and pediatric neurosurgery, has published several papers on these topics. She shared that the time spent at Cleveland Clinic was a great learning experience for her and that this fellowship was a great opportunity to see and expand the application of Gamma Knife at her home center. Her research work includes; Long term outcome of Gamma Knife for acoustic schwannomas and Study on midbrain AVMs and post traumatic hydrocephalus. She is also an associate editor of the book ‘Tenets of Craniosynostosis: Surgical Principles and Advanced Multi-disciplinary care’ by Thieme publishing group.

Visited Roswell Park Cancer Institute under the supervision of Dr. Dheerendra Prasad

Dr Nishanth Sadashiva currently holds the post of Assistant Professor at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), Bangalore, India and is actively involved in the Gamma Knife radiosurgery program there. He completed his Fellowship at Roswell Park Cancer Institute under the guidance of Dr. Dheerendra Prasad and got an opportunity to observe and plan 120 Gamma Knife cases in three months.  According to Dr. Prasad, “We welcomed the opportunity to host Dr. Sadashiva and look forward to working with the Society in hosting future applicants. He participated in all the activities of the center and experienced fully the role of Gamma Knife Icon in modern neurosurgery. For me, as a direct student of Ladislau Steiner and colleague to both him and Melita, it was a moment of personal joy and pride to continue his legacy with help from the Society.”

Dr. Sadashiva, who is currently working on a paper with the team at Roswell Park spoke about his experience, “Getting trained at such a high-volume center under people who have a record of treating one of the highest number of patients by Gamma Knife was a great experience indeed. At the same time, I got an entirely new perspective of this modality of treatment.”

His main interest areas are pediatric neuro-oncology and endoscopic cranial and skull base surgery. His sub-specialist interests include epilepsy surgery and craniofacial surgery. His research interests amongst others, include Exploring genetic variations in different types of meningioma to predict prognosis and recurrence rates and Assessing outcome and prognosis of patients with deep arteriovenous malformations who undergo Gamma Knife treatment. He is part of a few international research projects and has special interest in multi-institutional randomized trials in neurosurgery.

Visited UVA under the supervision of Dr. Jason Sheehan

Dr. Shrivastava has been an Associate Professor in the Department of Neurosurgery at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Bhopal, India since 2013. He visited University of Virginia (UVA) health System and observed Gamma Knife surgery under the guidance of Dr. Jason Sheehan. During his time there, he was able to attend more than a hundred cases of Gamma Knife radiosurgery and participated in research projects as well. Sharing his experience about hosting and training Dr. Shrivastava, Dr. Sheehan said,” The future of Gamma Knife is bright with young neurosurgeons like Dr. Shrivastava. He will be publishing several papers on Gamma Knife radiosurgery as part of his experience.”

Dr Shrivastava, who has also been the recipient of Karl Storz Fellowship in Neuroendoscopic surgery, Zeiss Advanced Neurosurgery Fellowship and Fellowship in Minimally Invasive Surgery (Sydney), strongly believes that Gamma Knife is an integral part of the armamentarium of a minimally invasive neurosurgeon. With the Steiner Fellowship experience, he aims not only to add Gamma Knife radiosurgery in his skill set, but also to guide him in establishing a Gamma Knife facility at AIIMS Bhopal.

Visiting Roswell Park Cancer Institute under the supervision of Dr. Dheerendra Prasad

Dr. Alexiou is a Neurosurgeon at the University Hospital of Ioannina, Greece since 2016. He graduated from the same university in 2004. He undertook his neurosurgical training at ‘’Agia Sofia’’ Children’s Hospital in Athens and at the University Hospital of Ioannina. After finishing his residency he received the EANS Spine Fellowship award and worked as a Clinical Fellow in the Department of Neurosurgery in Leeds Teaching Hospital, UK. He then served as a Fellow at the Department of Pediatric Neurosurgery in Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School after receiving the AANS International Travelling Fellowship. Dr. Alexiou started his preliminary Gamma Knife training at La Timone in Marseille, France. He has a Master degree in Biotechnology and Public Health. His PhD was on the differential diagnosis of glioma recurrence from radiation necrosis using SPECT and MRI and was funded by the Horizon 2020 program of the European Commission. Dr. Alexiou also worked as a postdoctoral research fellow at MD Anderson in Texas, and is currently working on basic research at the Neurosurgical Research Institute in Ioannina, Greece.  

His primary research interests are on the role of advanced imaging and radiotherapy techniques to improve the outcomes of glioma patients, on the role of flow cytometry for defining glioma margins and on the discovery and validation of novel chemotherapeutic agents for glioma treatment. With this fellowship Dr. Alexiou hopes to gain an insight into the novel horizons that Leksell Gamma Knife holds in the treatment of brain tumor patients and its emerging indications.

Visited UCSF under the supervision of Dr. Michael McDermott

Dr. Gerben R. Borst is a board certificated Radiation Oncologist at the Netherlands Cancer Institute (NKI). After obtaining his medical degree in 2003 at the University of Antwerp (Belgium) he finished his residency at the department of radiation oncology at the NKI. During his clinical training he also obtained his PhD in the field of radiation oncology in 2009. During these years he received two fellowships to visit and collaborate with the department of Radiology in Sapporo (Japan) and the Institute of Cancer Research of the Royal Marsden Hospital in London (UK).

In 2012 he worked for 2,5 years at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre (Canada) as a postdoctoral research fellow, sponsored by the Dutch Cancer Society. Since his return to the NKI he acts as a consultant radiation oncologist in the field of neuro-oncology. Additional to his clinical work, he is a research group leader since 2016. His field of research involves both pre-clinical laboratory based research (improving radiation strategies) and clinically based research.

His aim with the Steiner fellowship is to broaden his knowledge and experience of Gamma-Knife based treatment and to build new relationships in the scope of Gamma Knife based treatment and research.

Visited Hôpital de la Timone under the supervision of Prof. Jean Regis

Dr. Marasanov is a board certified neurosurgeon practicing at the University Hospital Rebro, Clinical Medical Centre Zagreb. He obtained his MD at the School of Medicine, University of Zagreb, Croatia, in 2004. He completed his neurosurgical training in 2013 at the Department of Neurosurgery of the Clinical Medical Centre Zagreb, one of the UEMS and EANS accredited Centers of Excellence in Neurosurgical Training. He is currently doing his postgraduate PhD study of Biomedicine and Science at the School of Medicine University of Zagreb. During his residency he completed the European Training Courses in Neurosurgery and passed the final written European Examination in Neurosurgery. Soon after board certification his main interest became stereotactic radiosurgery. He started his Gamma Knife training at the Gamma Knife Centre in Zagreb in 2015.  

The aim of his application for the Fellowship is to broaden his knowledge and experience in the field of cranial stereotactic radiosurgery. Beside Gamma Knife radiosurgery Dr. Marasanov is very much engaged in the microsurgery program in both adult neurooncology and adult degenerative spine. Dr. Marasanov is also the Secretary of the Croatian Neurosurgical Society.

Visited UPMC under the supervision of Dr. L. Dade Lunsford

Dr. Greg Fellows is a Consultant Pediatric and Adult Neurosurgeon practicing at The Bristol Royal Hospital for Children and Southmead Hospital since 2013, having previously been a Consultant at Great Ormond Street Hospital. Dr. Fellows graduated from King's College London in 1999 with Honors in Medicine and a 1st Class, Medical Research Council supported, physiology degree. He undertook his neurosurgical training at King's College Hospital and the Atkinson Morley Hospital in London. As part of his training he was funded by the European Union and was awarded a Research Doctorate (MD) for his research into the molecular biology of brain tumors. His training was completed by a specialist pediatric neurosurgical fellowship at Alder Hey Children's Hospital, Liverpool.

In addition to the research above Mr Fellows is the principal investigator on the Bristol arm of the Nordic Cerebellar Mutism Study, and co-investigator on the ADAPT study. Mr Fellows has started his preliminary Gamma Knife training in Bristol & has attended an LGK Icon training course in Marseille. In addition to general pediatric neurosurgery he has a sub-specialist interest in neuro-oncology (pediatric & adult), craniofacial surgery, adult degenerative spine, and hydrocephalus.

Visited NYU Langone Medical Center under the supervision of Dr. Douglas Kondziolka

Dr. Kanakamedala, is board certified in Radiation Oncology both in India and USA, with an aggregate fifteen years of experience in the field. His was initially trained in Radiation Oncology in India at the MNJ Institute of Oncology and Regional Cancer Center, and later on worked in National Health Service UK for two years. When he first relocated to America, he did a one year long Clinical Research Fellowship in CNS Radiation Oncology at Dana Farber/Brigham Women’s Hospital. After completing his Residency in 2014, Dr. Kanakamedala has continued as faculty in the rank of Assistant Professor at University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS, USA. Dr. Kanakamedala primarily focuses on Stereotactic Radiosurgery and Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy in addition to treating wide variety of malignancies using external beam radiation.

His primary research interests are hypofractionation (including treatment techniques and prognostic factors influencing outcomes) and the Integration of Immunotherapy (PD-1 Inhibitors) with hypo fractionation.

Visited Mayo Clinic under the supervision of Dr. Bruce Pollock

Dr. Nagy obtained his MD in 2000 at the Faculty of Medicine, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary, and completed his PhD studies in 2003 as part of the Neuroscience Graduate Program of the Faculty of Biology, Georg-August-University, Göttingen, Germany. His early field of interest during these years was the cellular and molecular electrophysiology of the regulation of neurotransmitter release. In 2004 he returned to Budapest and started to work as a neurosurgical trainee at the National Institute of Neurosurgery (named National Institute of Clinical Neurosciences today) and completed his training in 2011.Since then he has gained experience mainly in neurooncology, pediatric neurosurgery and parts of vascular neurosurgery. He was introduced to Gamma Knife radiosurgery as a trainee at The National Centre for Stereotactic Radiosurgery in Sheffield, U.K. in 2008. His main field of interest is the multidisciplinary approach of vascular neurosurgery (AVMs and cavernomas) and his current scientific work is based on a still-living collaboration with Sheffield.

The primary aim of his application to the Fellowship is to build new international relationships, both including observing daily clinical routine of multidisciplinary approach integrating modern radiosurgery and participating in scientific discussion. Although his home institute does not currently operate with a Gamma Knife, as a microsurgeon he believes that we cannot talk about modern cranial neurosurgery without the integration of the current knowledge on radiosurgery as part of a multimodality management. Thus, the development of radiosurgery reflects on the development of neurosurgery as a constant dialogue.