Pittsburgh, September 16, 2008 -- P. David Adelson, MD, A. Leland Albright Professor of Neurosurgery at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and vice chairman of research with the Department of Neurological Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh, will serve as president of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS) for 2008-09.

The CNS is a leading group of international neurosurgeons with a mission to enhance health and improve lives worldwide through the advancement of education and scientific exchange.

Dr. Adelson's term as president begins at the conclusion of the CNS annual meeting in Orlando, FL, on September 25 and will continue through the group's annual meeting in New Orleans, LA, October 24-29, 2009.

Dr. Adelson is an internationally recognized expert in head injury and epilepsy in children. He is director of Center for Injury Research and Control (CIRCL), the Pediatric Neurotrauma at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, director of Surgical Epilepsy at the University of Pittsburgh Epilepsy Center, and co-director of the Brachial Plexus and Peripheral Nerve Injury Center at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. He is also director for The Walter Copeland Neurosurgical Research Laboratory.

Dr. Adelson has 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 and the principal investigator of a CDC-funded Injury Control and Research Center. His research has resulted in numerous publications, authoring over 115 publications in refereed journals, over 45 book chapters/invited articles and editing eight books.

He has been the recipient of multiple awards, including The Best Doctors in America, Young Investigators Award of the Brain Injury Association, Congress of Neurological Surgeons Clinical Investigation Award and Outstanding Physician Award.

Dr. Adelson was named recipient of The A. Leland Albright Endowed Chair at the University of Pittsburgh in February of 2007. The chair honors the career accomplishments of A. Leland Albright, MD, former chief of neurosurgery at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and well-known expert in pediatric neurosurgery. The chair confers special recognition on Dr. Adelson for his career work.

Dr. Adelson is the second University of Pittsburgh Department of Neurological Surgery faculty member to lead the CNS in the past three years. Douglas Kondziolka, MD, Peter J. Jannetta Professor of Neurosurgery and vice chairman of education for the department, served as president in 2006-07.