Pittsburgh, October 9, 1997 -- L. Dade Lunsford, MD, FACS, has been appointed chairman of the department of neurological surgery at the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Lunsford currently is Lars Leksell Professor of Neurological Surgery, Professor of Radiation Oncology and Professor of Radiology and is chief of neurological surgery at UPMC Health System.

Dr. Lunsford succeeds Peter J. Jannetta, MD, DSc, who has served as chairman of the department since 1971. Dr. Jannetta will continue to perform pioneering surgery and investigations into cranial nerve compression syndromes. During his 26 years as chairman, Dr. Jannetta brought the department international stature.

Since 1981, Dr. Lunsford has dedicated much of his interest to the development of image-guided brain surgery.

He attended the University of Virginia as an undergraduate, received his medical degree from The College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University in 1974 and completed his neurological surgery training at the University of Pittsburgh in 1980.

Dr. Lunsford served as the American Association of Neurological Surgeons 1980 Van Wagenen Fellow, spending a one-year fellowship at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden. On his return to Pittsburgh in 1981, Dr. Lunsford embarked on a program of building image-guided neurological surgery, stereotactic guided brain surgery and functional brain surgery.

He was responsible for creating the first dedicated operating room with a dedicated CT scanner. He introduced the first North American 201-Cobalt source Gamma Knife in 1987 and helped to facilitate the installation of the second and newly redesigned Gamma Knife in 1996.

Dr. Lunsford is the author or co-author of more than 225 peer-reviewed articles, 75 book chapters and is editor or co-editor of four books.

He serves on the editorial review board of six journals, has been chairman of the Joint Section of Stereotactic and Functional Neurological Surgery for the American Association of Neurological Surgeons/Congress of Neurological Surgeons, and founded the International Stereotactic Radiosurgical Society of which he was the first president.

In 1997, he received the Jacob Fabrikant Award from the International Stereotactic Society for his contributions to the field. In 1997, he also received the William S. McElroy Award from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine for his contributions as a distinguished scientist, clinician and scholar who trained at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

During the next century, Dr. Lunsford plans to enhance the clinical, academic, educational and research missions of the Department of Neurological Surgery, which is a local, regional, national and international resource for the evaluation, treatment and investigation of brain, spinal cord and peripheral nerve disorders.