Crossing 'No-Man's Land' in the Brain: Barrow Director Dr. Robert Spetzler to Give Keller Lecture

CINCINNATI - The Mayfield Education & Research Foundation and the University of Cincinnati Department of Neurosurgery will host Robert F. Spetzler, MD, Director of the Barrow Neurological Institute, as the 2014 Keller Lecturer in Surgical Neuroanatomy & Research on Wednesday, March 19, on the UC campus.

Keller Lectureship

Dr. Spetzler is a world-renowned neurosurgeon who specializes in cerebrovascular disease and skull base tumors. He has co-edited a number of textbooks, including the Color Atlas of Microneurosurgery, and he has made significant contributions to surgical neuroanatomy and surgical techniques. Dr. Spetzler's lecture is titled, "Traversing the Brainstem and Third Ventricle."

The event, the 3rd annual Keller Lectureship in surgical neuroanatomy & research, is open to the public and will take place at the Vontz Center for Molecular Studies, 3235 Eden Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio 45267. The lecture is named for Jeffrey T. Keller, PhD, Research Professor of Neurosurgery & Anatomy and Cell Biology at UC and the Mayfield Clinic.

"Dr. Spetzler is perhaps the most well-known and accomplished neurosurgeon in the world," Dr. Keller says. "His presentation on traversing the brainstem focuses on one of the most intricate and complicated regions of the nervous system – one that is sometimes referred to as terra nullius, Latin for no man's land."

Dr. Keller has been training surgeons, residents, and medical students in applied neuroanatomy for 30 years. His extensive investigations and laboratory dissections are infused with deep appreciation for the historical traditions of neuroanatomy.

As an educator, Dr. Keller's collaborations with colleagues are innovative and worldwide. Translating the intricacies of the brain and spinal anatomy into practical application has ultimately refined operative techniques.

2013 Takeshi Kawase, MD, PhD, Professor, Department of Surgery, Keio University, Tokyo

2012 Albert L. Rhoton, Jr., MD, Professor of Neurosurgery, University of Florida