P. David Adelson
2009, New Orleans
P. David Adelson, MD, FACS, FAAP, is honored to serve the Congress of Neurological Surgeons as its President for 2008- 2009. He has served on the Executive Committee of the CNS in numerous roles since 1997, including Member-at-Large, Chair of the Bylaws, Publications and Strategic Planning Committees, Secretary (2003-2006), Vice President (2006-2007), and President Elect (2007- 2008). In addition, he is the Past-Chairman of the AANS/CNS Section on Neurotrauma and Critical Care, serves on the editorial board of NEUROSURGERY®, and has been active nationally on the behalf of Neurosurgery, serving on the Washington Committee as Co-Chair of the Guidelines Committee, Executive Committee of the Section of Neurosurgery for the AAP and the Committee on Trauma for the American College of Surgeons. Dr. Adelson is Director of the Children’s Neuroscience Institute and Chief, Pediatric Neurosurgery at Phoenix Children’s Hospital. Before leaving Pittsburgh, he was the A. Leland Albright Professor of Neurosurgery/Pediatric Neurosurgery at the University of Pittsburgh, School of Medicine and Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. Dr. Adelson received his BA from Columbia College in 1982, and his MD in 1986 from the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University. He completed his neurosurgical residency at the University of California, Los Angeles in 1993 under the chairmanship of Dr. Donald P. Becker and then pursued pediatric neurosurgery fellowship at the Children’s Hospital of Boston, Harvard Medical School under the guidance of Drs. R. Michael Scott and Peter McL. Black. He is also a Fellow of both the American College of Surgeons (FACS) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (FAAP). Following fellowship training, Dr. Adelson joined the faculty of the University of Pittsburgh, Department of Neurological Surgery and Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, first as an Assistant Professor in 1994 under Dr. Peter J. Jannetta, and then through promotion as Associate Professor with tenure in 1999, Full Professor in 2003, and finally the Albright Professor of Neurosurgery/Pediatric Neurosurgery in 2007 under Dr. L. Dade Lunsford. At the time he left the University, Dr. Adelson was the Vice Chairman (Research) where he had been part of the growth of one of the most successful neurosurgical departments in terms of extramural funding; the Director of the Walter L. Copeland Neurosurgical Laboratories, and the Director of the Center for Injury Research and Control (CIRCL), a CDC funded ICRC at the University of Pittsburgh. He left the University in 2008 to join Phoenix Children’s Hospital in its efforts to develop a comprehensive Children’s Neuroscience Institute where he is the Director, as well as take on the role of Chief, Pediatric Neurosurgery. Dr. Adelson is a nationally and internationally recognized expert in pediatric neural injury, with a special interest in neural recovery and plasticity after traumatic brain injury in children. He has had active and funded basic science laboratory and clinical research programs focused on pediatric TBI and hypothermia, synaptic connectivity, and neurogenesis. He is presently the Principal Investigator of an NIH funded multi-center randomized clinical trial studying the effect of moderate hypothermia following severe TBI in children. He has been the recipient of multiple awards, including The Best Doctors in America, Young Investigator Award from the Brain Injury Association, and CNS Clinical Investigation Award. His research has resulted in numerous publications; he has authored over 125 publications in refereed journals, and over 45 book chapters/invited articles and edited 8 books. Born in Long Island, New York, and following moves to New York City, Los Angeles, Boston for training, Pittsburgh for 14 ½ years and most recently, Phoenix Arizona, with his wife Barbara whom he met in Los Angeles. Barbara, originally from Westport, Connecticut, trained as a nurse but found a new career as an Executive for non-profits in the Pittsburgh area, previously the President of the Ladies Hospital Aid Society and the ACMS Alliance, and this year as President of the CNS Auxilliary. They have five children, Casey, Brittany, David, Samuel, and Richard.