Residency Research Opportunities

Opportunities for clinical research in the subspecialties of Neurosurgery are abundant. Wake Forest Neurosurgery is a leading institution in national trials in a number of areas including: cerebrovascular neurosurgery, spinal instrumentation, and neuro-oncology. It is one of sixteen members of the National Cancer Institute's NABTT (New Approaches to Brain Tumor Therapy) Consortium which conducts phase I and phase II trials of promising new agents for brain tumors. Wake Forest University’s Comprehensive Cancer Center is one of only sixty-five NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers in the United States.

Elective time spent in the neurosurgical laboratory is strongly encouraged, as is a career in academic neurosurgery.  Waldemar Debinski, M.D., Ph.D. is a member of the Department of Neurosurgery and also functions as director of Wake Forest University’s Comprehensive Cancer Center Brain Tumor Center of Excellence.  Wake Forest University is home to the only Brain Tumor Center of Excellence in Western North Carolina.  Collaboration with accomplished colleagues in Wake Forest School of Medicine's excellent basic science departments is also encouraged and results in additional academic productivity.

Residents have a number of projects to complete during their training, and they are expected to publish and present their research at national and regional meetings. The Department maintains a resident library with future plans for expansion of this invaluable resource.