Med School appoints nation's first woman neurosurgery chair

The Medical School has appointed pediatric neurosurgeon Dr. Karin Muraszko to be chair of the Neurosurgery Department. The Board of Regents approved the appointment Nov. 18.

Muraszko (Photo courtesy UMHS)

Muraszko, who joined the faculty in 1990, will be the first woman in the country to chair an academic neurosurgery department. She is a professor of neurosurgery with joint appointments in Pediatrics and Plastic Surgery.

"The Department of Neurosurgery at U-M is one of the great academic neurosurgery departments in the nation, and Karin Muraszko is among the best pediatric neurosurgeons in the field, so we have an unbeatable combination for success," says Dr. Allen Lichter, dean of the Medical School.

As chief of pediatric neurosurgery for the past 10 years, Muraszko has focused her practice on pediatric brain tumors and congenital anomalies. She is director of the Pediatric Brain Tumor Clinic at the Comprehensive Cancer Center and has worked to develop new therapies for brain tumors. Muraszko has been part of a series of research studies during the last 15 years that led to the first clinical trial in children using transferring-targeted toxin therapy.

In addition, Muraszko is an expert at malformations of the brain and spine such as spina bifida and Chiari I malformations. Her work has changed the way neurosurgeons view these malformations and their treatment. She is the neurosurgical director of the Craniofacial Anomalies Program at U-M and performs more than 50 operations a year on children with complex craniofacial anomalies in conjunction with the Pediatric Plastic Surgery group.

"The Department of Neurosurgery is a terrific department with a long history at the University of Michigan. It's had only four chairs in its history, and each served a long and distinguished career. I'm honored to be part of that tradition of excellence in patient care, research and resident education; and look forward to seeing the Department of Neurosurgery continue to grow and expand," Muraszko says.

Muraszko earned a bachelor's degree from Yale University in 1977 and her medical degree in 1981 from Columbia University, where she was the first woman accepted to the neurosurgery program. She completed her residency in neurosurgery at Columbia's New York Neurological Institute and a fellowship at the National Institutes of Health.

Muraszko sits on the advisory board for the Spina Bifida Association and on the board of directors for the March of Dimes. She is a member of the executive committee of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons and serves on a variety of committees of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons. An active member of the American College of Surgeons, she serves on its Health Care Policy Steering Committee.

In 1998, Muraszko helped develop and organize Project Shunt, a program to provide desperately needed neurosurgical care to poor people in Guatemala. Each year, neurosurgeons, anesthesiologists, pediatricians, nurses and residents conduct a medical mission to Guatemala. The program has operated on more than 200 children with complex cranial and spinal abnormalities, as well as provided educational services to physicians in Guatemala.