Some new numbers reflect favorably upon the UB program that trains neurosurgeons. In the last 21 years, UB students have ranked among the best on a national exam on five occasions. While any neurosurgery program could do well in any one year, new Department Chairman Doctor Elad Levy agrees doing it five times shows the university has a strong operation.
This isn't an easy field of medicine with the basic training seven years after med school and then most of the newly trained surgeons spend another year or two learning about an even more narrow part of the brain.
Doctor Levy says local conditions provide students with vast training experiences.
"The disease of brain vessels, the stroke and carotid disease is very high in Western New York. And, that may be due to the lack of exercise or the diet or the climate. But, this is a very sick population, an aged population."
Doctor Levy says neurosurgeons can do much more to treat and reverse brain damage than in past years. According to Levy, new imaging technology and increasing knowledge about the brain are helping to provide better treatment.
