Pittsburgh, November 27, 2007 -- Two University of Pittsburgh neurosurgery residents won presentation awards recently at regional conferences.

Fifth-year resident Rick Madhok, MD, took first place in the clinical category for his research entitled “Endoscopic Endonasal Skull Base Surgery: Analysis of Complications in the Initial 700 Patients” presented at the Pennsylvania Medical Society’s Annual Business and House of Delegates Meeting held October 19 in Hershey, PA.

Third-year resident Nestor Tomycz, MD took second prize in the Resident Trauma Paper Competition held at the American College of Surgeons/Pennsylvania Trauma Conference in Lancaster, PA on October 18. Dr. Tomycz presented the paper “MRI Fails to Detect Unstable Cervical Spine Injury Missed by CT in Obtunded and Comatose Patients: The Four-Year Experience of a Level I Trauma Center.” David Okonkwo, MD, PhD, was principal investigator on this project.

In announcing the trauma award, department chairman Amin Kassam, MD, stated, "This research has the potential impact of changing the entire practice patterns for trauma management."

Congratulations to Drs. Madhok, Tomycz and Okonkwo for their accomplishments.