Pittsburgh, November 21, 2024 -- PGY-7 resident Arka Mallela, MD, took home the best resident presentation award at the 18th Annual Stuart Rowe Society Lectureship and Resident Research Day held November 20 at the University of Pittsburgh Department of Neurological Surgery.
Dr. Mallela's presentation, "Deconstructing the Process of Expressive Language Production," was one of 11 lectures presented by department residents during the day honoring Stuart Niles Rowe, MD, widely considered the founding figure of neurosurgery training in the city of Pittsburgh. For winning the award, Dr. Mallela received a trip to attend the 2025 American Academy of Neurological Surgeons Annual Meeting scheduled for Athens, Greece next October.
PGY-2 resident Stephanie Casillo, MD, received runner-up honors for her presentation, “Targeting Metabolic Dependencies in Diffuse Midline Glioma.”
The awards were chosen and presented by the lectureship’s honored guest, Peter Vajkoczy, MD, PhD, professor and chair of neurosurgery at Charité - Universitätsmedizin in Berlin, Germany at a special evening reception and dinner held in his honor at Pittsburgh's prestigious Duquesne Club. As honored guest lecturer, Dr. Vajkoczy also presented a talk titled "Are You a Swatch or Patek," describing the different paths in neurosurgery careers.
Scott Wucher, grandson of Dr. Rowe, also spoke at the event providing personal reflections of his grandfather.
This Stuart Rowe Society Lectureship and Resident Research Day was established in 2005 as a tribute to Dr. Rowe who believed that neurosurgery training should not only teach exceptional technique, but also the critical clinical decision-making skills necessary to succeed. Niles was a strong advocate of thorough research and literature review in residency training. He preached the underlying need for independent research as a means for broadening clinical knowledge.
