The Pediatric Neurosurgery Division at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh (CHP) is led by Taylor Abel, MD, and also includes Ian Pollack, MD, Martin Piazza, MD, and Cody Nesvick, MD. The division provides care for children with tumors, spinal and cranial deformities, vascular malformations, spasticity, epilepsy and peripheral nerve disorders. The division has gained international recognition for the treatment of pediatric brain tumors, epilepsy, neurovascular surgery, cerebral palsy and movement disorders, traumatic brain injury, and disorders of the skull base and cranio-cervical junction.
The center’s neurosurgeons work closely with specialists in pediatrics, surgery, radiation therapy, pediatric neuro-oncology, physiatry and rehabilitation medicine, orthopedics, plastic surgery, otolaryngology, critical care, pediatric neurology and social services. Through its neuro-oncology program, the center provides comprehensive, multi-disciplinary care for patients with brain and spinal cord tumors, in collaboration with the oncology and radiation therapy programs. Patients may be eligible for treatment in one of many innovative research protocols at CHP. These protocols—several of which are unique to CHP or available at only a few centers throughout the country—provide CHP patients access to new treatments and promising studies.
The pediatric neurosurgery program is supported by five full-time advanced practice providers, which—along with an extensive telemedicine presence—has enabled expansion of the division’s outreach program to multiple communities beyond our immediate geographic area. Our research initiatives are also supported by four full-time research coordinators, allowing us to maintain a broad array of clinical studies to place our site on the cutting edge of pediatric neurosurgery patient care, while advancing the field in general.
Pediatric Brain Tumor Program
Dr. Pollack is the institutional principal investigator and chair of the neurosurgery committee in the Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium, supported by the National Cancer Institute to perform cutting-edge clinical trials in children with brain tumors, and serves as the principal investigator on several studies involving vaccine-based immunotherapy for children with challenging brain tumors. The clinical program at CHP has been enhanced by the completion of an intraoperative MRI suite, which facilitates the goal of achieving safer and more extensive resections in challenging childhood brain tumors and allowing immediate postoperative imaging without the need for a second anesthetic.
These clinical advances are coupled with a robust and rapidly growing research enterprise, encompassing a state-of-the-art pediatric brain tumor bank, as well as a series of eight NIH R01, P01, and R21-funded research projects, and a cadre of rising-star investigators, including Sameer Agnihotri, PhD, Gary Kohanbash, PhD, Baoli Hu, PhD, and Antony MichealRaj, PhD. These activities build upon the division’s existing strength in experimental therapeutics and immunobiology, with a goal of developing the next generations of precision-medicine-based clinical trials.
Pediatric Epilepsy Surgery Program
The Pediatric Epilepsy Surgery Program, led by Dr. Abel, William Welch, MD, and Ruba Al-Ramadhani, MD, of the Division of Child Neurology, is the only center in the region able to provide comprehensive epilepsy surgery evaluation and performs more than 140 epilepsy surgeries each year. A comprehensive pre-surgical evaluation, using state-of-the-art neuroimaging and electrophysiology resources, is performed to identify the specific site in the brain causing seizures and to determine its relationship to important functional areas of the brain. Patients with focal epilepsy can be treated with the full range of treatment options including lesionectomy, cortical resection, lobar resection, or hemispheric disconnection—with or without a period of direct cortical recordings (i.e., SEEG or subdural grid electrodes) to elucidate epileptic cortex. The surgical epilepsy program is equipped with both a ROSA robot and O-Arm intraoperative CT scanner, which enables frameless robot-assisted SEEG implantation. Approaches are tailored to minimize the use of craniotomies when possible. The program is one of the highest volume centers for both pediatric MR-guided laser ablation and pediatric responsive neural stimulation (RNS) in North America. For children with drug-resistant multi-focal or generalized epilepsy, all available treatment procedures are available, including MR-guided laser callosotomy, traditional callosotomy, vagus nerve stimulation, centromedian RNS, and deep brain stimulation. A multidisciplinary epilepsy surgery clinic provides streamlined, comprehensive evaluation of children with drug-resistant epilepsy for surgery.
Dr. Abel’s basic research program focuses on understanding the neural basis of complex natural sound perception. This effort is funded by multiple federal grants, including funding from NINDS, NIDCD, and NSF. The epilepsy surgery program’s clinical research efforts, also directed by Dr. Abel, focus on comparative effectiveness of different epilepsy surgery strategies, and is funded by both PCORI and industry.
Pediatric Spasticity and Movement Disorder Program
The Pediatric Spasticity and Movement Disorder Program at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh is a nationally recognized center dedicated to advancing care for children with complex movement disorders. Led by Dr. Piazza, the program combines cutting-edge research with a deeply collaborative clinical approach to improve outcomes and quality of life for young patients. Through specialized multidisciplinary clinics held weekly—including the Surgical Movement Disorders and Cerebral Palsy Clinics—patients receive individualized, comprehensive care from a team of experts in neurosurgery, neurology, rehabilitation, orthopedics, and more. Together with families, the team creates tailored treatment plans for children with conditions such as cerebral palsy, spasticity, dystonia, tremor, chorea, and athetosis.
Treatment options range from medication adjustments and equipment recommendations to advanced surgical interventions, including intrathecal and intraventricular baclofen therapy, selective dorsal rhizotomy, deep brain stimulation (DBS), orthopedic procedures, and botulinum toxin injections. The program continues the legacy of innovation established by A. Leland Albright, MD, offering unique therapies like intraventricular baclofen—developed right here in Pittsburgh. For children requiring neuromodulation, the program utilizes state-of-the-art tools like the ROSA robot and O-arm imaging to provide precise, asleep, frameless deep brain stimulation—making this therapy safer and accessible.
At its core, the program is built on partnership—with families and with other subspecialists. In addition to clinical innovation, the team is deeply engaged in research to push the field forward. Dr. Piazza leads a translational research program aimed at understanding how the brain and spinal cord functions in children with cerebral palsy, with the goal of developing new therapies for spasticity. He also directs a clinical research program focused on family-centered decision-making and comparative effectiveness modeling, helping tailor treatment plans to each child’s unique needs and goals. Through this integrated approach to care and discovery, the program is shaping a better future for children with movement disorders.
Pediatric Neurosurgery Spine Program
Pediatric Neurosurgery Spine Program, led by Dr. Piazza, provides comprehensive care for children with a wide range of spinal disorders through a collaborative, multidisciplinary approach. Working in close partnership with orthopedic surgery, anesthesiology and pain medicine, and when appropriate, neurosurgical oncology, the program offers advanced surgical and non-surgical treatments tailored to each patient’s unique needs.
The team specializes in the management of complex spinal conditions, including spinal nerve injuries, disc herniations, neuromuscular scoliosis related to cerebral palsy or other neuromuscular disorders, spina bifida, and craniocervical junction abnormalities—whether congenital or tumor-related. With expertise spanning the entire spectrum of pediatric spinal pathology, the program is committed to delivering safe, effective, and family-centered care that optimizes both function and quality of life.
Pediatric Skull-Base Program
The Pediatric Skull-Base Program, co-led by Dr. Nesvick (Neurosurgery) and Amanda Stapleton, MD, (ENT), is one of only a handful of programs in North America dedicated to the treatment of skull-base pathology in children. What sets the program apart is its uniquely integrated team of specialists – all with dedicated training in skull-base surgery – working seamlessly together to address some of the most challenging conditions faced by children.
This one-of-a-kind program brings together experts in neurosurgery, otorhinolaryngology, oculoplastic surgery, ophthalmology, endocrinology, oncology, neuroradiology and pathology to provide a comprehensive and personalized approach to care. Together, the team manages a wide range of skull-base pathology that includes, but is not limited to, craniopharyngioma, chordoma, schwannoma, meningioma, meningoencephaloceles, pars intermedia (Rathke cleft) cysts, and pituitary adenomas. In a close partnership with the world-renowned Center for Cranial Base Surgery at UPMC, which pioneered the use of the endoscopic endonasal approach (EEA) to skull-base lesions, the program gives patients access to cutting-edge techniques and the highest levels of disease expertise. Beyond EEA, the program also treats selected lesions with trans-orbital, endoscopic transcranial and minimally invasive skull-base approaches.
This multimodal approach ensures that children receive the most effective, safest, and cosmetic treatments available, all with the least possible morbidity. The Pediatric Skull Base Program is more than a surgical service – it is a uniquely collaborative program that emphasizes both technical and intellectual excellence and is committed to providing world-class care for children facing some of the most challenging pathologies of childhood.
The Neurovascular Center of Excellence at UPMC Children’s
The Neurovascular Center of Excellence (NVCE) at UPMC Children’s is a premier program dedicated to the diagnosis and treatment of complex neurovascular disorders in children, including arteriovenous malformations, cavernous malformations (cavernomas), moyamoya disease, cerebral aneurysms, stroke, intracerebral hemorrhage and other rare congenital vascular anomalies.
Led by a highly specialized team of Alhamza Al-Bayati, MD, (interventional neurology), Dr. Nesvick (neurosurgery), Elissa Orlotani, MD, (neurology) and Dana Cummings, MD, (neurology), the NVCE integrates expertise from across the entire spectrum of specialties to provide a unified, technically advanced approach to treating the most complex neurovascular disorders in children.
The NVCE collaborates seamlessly with the Vascular Anomalies Center and hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT) Center of Excellence for patients with multi-system vascular disorders, providing care that is as comprehensive as it is convenient.
When surgical treatment is required, the NVCE emphasizes both precision and safety. Dr. Al-Bayati and Dr. Nesvick collaborate frequently to provide advanced treatments, which include:
- Microsurgical resection of arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) and cavernomas (cavernous malformations).
- Occlusion of intracranial aneurysms.
- Cerebral revascularization (e.g., pial synangiosis) for moyamoya disease.
- Endovascular interventions, including intracranial stenting
In addition to surgical and interventional approaches, the NVCE also works closely with UPMC’s Center for Image-Guided Neurosurgery for treatment of select intracranial lesions with Gamma Knife stereotactic radiosurgery, a highly precise type of radiotherapy used to treat select complex cranial conditions with minimal morbidity.
By combining leading-edge technology with multidisciplinary expertise, the NVCE at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh stands at the forefront of pediatric neurovascular care, delivering the safest, most effective treatment for children with even the rarest and most complex vascular conditions of the brain and spine.
Craniofacial Program
The division is an integral collaborator with Pediatric Plastic Surgery in the Cleft-Palate and Craniofacial Center in the management of children with craniofacial disorders. Because children with complex craniosynostosis often require a staged approach to the treatment of their cranial, midfacial and lower facial deformities, close multidisciplinary follow-up is maintained throughout childhood to adolescence in order to optimize long-term functional and cosmetic outcome. The center offers a panoply of surgical options, ranging from innovative endoscopic techniques that have been refined at CHP, as well as a broad range of open approaches carefully tailored to the child’s anatomy.
Congenital Neurosurgery Program
In conjunction with a team of specialists at UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital, the division has established a program to treat babies with myelomeningocele, or open spina bifida, with in utero surgery here in Pittsburgh. Babies who are not candidates for in utero surgery undergo conventional closure of the defect within several days of birth. These children are seen throughout childhood by a multidisciplinary team of medical professionals in the Spina Bifida Clinic at CHP, one of the largest such clinics in the country. Expectant mothers are referred by the Fetal Diagnosis and Treatment Center at UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital for counseling in the pediatric neurosurgery clinic if prenatal imaging reveals a potential neurosurgical abnormality. The division collaborates with maternal-fetal medicine, neonatology, and supportive care experts at UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital as co-PI on multiple grants to study in utero treatment of congenital aqueductal stenosis, a common cause of hydrocephalus.
The Brachial Plexus Birth Injury Clinic—run through the division of pediatric plastic surgery—manages infants with birth injuries to the brachial plexus in a collaborative fashion with specialists from neurosurgery, plastic surgery, orthopedic surgery, and physical and occupational therapy. UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh is one of a handful of centers in the country that have a dedicated multidisciplinary clinic for these patients and is the only such program in the region. Older patients with peripheral nerve tumors or injuries are seen outside of the Brachial Plexus program.
UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh is a member of the Hydrocephalus Clinical Research Network, a group of 11 premier pediatric neurosurgical departments in North America that are dedicated to designing and undertaking field-changing prospective research into pediatric hydrocephalus. In addition, CHP is also a member institution in the Park-Reeves Syringomyelia Research Consortium, a group dedicated to solving important clinical problems within the realm of Chiari malformation and syringomyelia. These efforts have led to dozens of publications that have helped to advance the field in collaboration with other consortium sites.
National and International Leadership in Pediatric Neuroscience
Finally, our division members maintain an active role in organized neurosurgery and allied fields. In addition to his consortium involvement, Dr. Pollack serves as chair of the American Board of Pediatric Neurosurgery, a director on the Accreditation Council for Pediatric Neurosurgical Fellowships, and a principal investigator with the Children’s Brain Tumor Network. Dr. Abel serves on the board of directors for the Pediatric Epilepsy Alliance. Dr. Abel also serves on board of directors of the American Epilepsy Society where he is chair of the American Epilepsy Society membership council. Dr. Abel serves on multiple committees in the American Epilepsy Society and AANS/CNS Section on Pediatric Neurosurgery, including the AES Membership Council, the AES Neurosurgery Task Force, and is the founding chair of the AES Early Career Committee. Dr. Abel also serves on the AANS/CNS Joint Guidelines Committee.