Pittsburgh, October 1, 2022 -- Leading stereotactic radiosurgery and surgical neuro-oncologist Costas Hadjipanayis, MD, PhD, has joined the University of Pittsburgh Department of Neurological Surgery as a successor to neurosurgery icon L. Dade Lunsford, MD, directing the department’s UPMC Center for Image-Guided Neurosurgery.
Dr. Hadjipanayis is an acclaimed neuro-oncology pioneer, furthering advancements in the therapy and management of brain tumors. In addition to stereotactic radiosurgery, he specializes in advanced awake/intraoperative mapping techniques, laser interstitial thermal therapy (LITT), neuroendoscopy for intraventricular tumors (colloid cysts) and fluorescence-guided surgery (FGS). In 2011, he was the first to use 5-ALA (Gleolan) and perform FGS in the United States and helped lead the FDA approval of Gleolan for glioma surgery in June 2017. He has also helped with the development of a voice-controlled robotic-assisted exoscope for neurosurgery.
An NIH-funded researcher, Dr. Hadjipanayis has focused much of his career on innovation, translational research, and intraoperative technology development for brain tumors. His laboratory is focused on developing new treatment methods that target glioblastoma, the most difficult brain cancer.
Dr. Hadjipanayis comes to the University of Pittsburgh from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City where he served as the chair of neurosurgery at Mount Sinai Union Square/Beth Israel and the director of neurosurgical oncology for the Mount Sinai Health System. A 2006 graduate of the University of Pittsburgh residency program, Dr. Hadjipanayis received his medical degree from Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia and obtained a PhD in molecular genetics and biochemistry while completing his residency in Pittsburgh.
Dr. Hadjipanayis is active both nationally and internationally in organized neurosurgery and has received a number of awards and recognitions. Most recently, he was elected secretary and treasurer for the executive committee of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons/Congress of Neurological Surgeons Tumor Section and will serve as that organization’s elected chair in 2024.
In addition to his role of director of the UPMC Center for Image-Guided Neurosurgery, Dr. Hadjipanayis will also serve as co-director of the newly formed UPMC Brain Tumor Center and director of the Brain Tumor Nanotechnology Laboratory, both at the UPMC Hillman Cancer Center. He will also serve as executive vice-chair for the Department of Neurological Surgery and he has been nominated to receive the inaugural L. Dade Lunsford Endowed Chair in Neurological Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh.
Dr. Lunsford, the Lars Leksell Distinguished Professor at the University of Pittsburgh, has long been an internationally recognized authority on stereotactic surgery, radiosurgery, and minimally invasive surgery. His name is synonymous with stereotactic surgery, having brought the first Gamma Knife unit to the United States in 1987 after having studied under the device’s founder, Lars Leksell, in the early 1980s. Since then, almost 18,000 patients have received treatment under his watch at the University of Pittsburgh.
He is the author of more than 1,400 published articles, abstracts, and book chapters and has served as the editor or co-editor of 17 books and has an h-index of 126. It’s been estimated that more than 2,500 physicians, from around the world, have received Gamma Knife training under Dr. Lunsford through his Principles and Practice of Gamma Knife Radiosurgery professional training course and his fellowship program.
Dr. Lunsford served as department chairman for ten years, before stepping down in July of 2006 to devote more time to his clinical work, clinical investigation, and resident and fellow training. He also served as the department residency director from 1987 until 2020.
He has received numerous accolades throughout his career including the Honored Guest of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons in 2007 and the Cushing Award for Technical Excellence and Innovation in Neurosurgery from the American Association of Neurological Surgery in 2016. In 2017 he received the prestigious Herbert Olivecrona Award—known by some as the “Nobel Prize of Neurosurgery”—from the Karolinska Institute & Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm, Sweden. Earlier this year, he was the inaugural lecturer at the Lunsford Radiosurgery Lecture at the Miami Baptist Cancer Institute.
Dr. Lunsford will continue to provide Gamma Knife patient care in the department as Dr. Hadjipanayis takes on his new roles here at the university and UPMC.
Watch a conversation between Dr. Lunsford and Dr. Hadjipanayis below on the leadership change at the UPMC Center for Image-Guided Neurosurgery and future direction of the center.