Dr. Walid I. Essayed

Spiros Blackburn, MD, is a board-certified neurosurgeon who specializes in cerebrovascular and skull base surgery. He has special expertise in both endoscopic and endovascular neurosurgery. A summa cum laude graduate of Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, Dr. Blackburn received his medical degree at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas. After concluding his residency at Washington University in St. Louis, he completed a cerebrovascular fellowship at Emory University in Atlanta and a neuro-endovascular fellowship at Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology at Washington University. Prior to joining Mischer Neuroscience Institute, he held a faculty appointment as assistant professor of neurosurgery at the University of Florida in Gainesville. The recipient of numerous academic awards, Dr. Blackburn has lectured nationally on the management of cerebral aneurysms, surgical anatomy, arteriovenous malformations and stroke. His research has been published in peer-reviewed journals including PNAS, Neurosurgery, World Neurosurgery, Journal of NeuroInterventional Surgery, British Journal of Neurosurgery, Journal of Neurosurgery, Stroke and Journal of Neuro-Oncology, among others. His clinical research interests include biomarkers for cerebral vasospasm and translational research for patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage, as well as a number of clinical trials for the treatment of brain aneurysms. He treats the following conditions: Cerebral aneurysms and arteriovenous malformations Meningiomas and other tumors involving the skull base Pituitary tumors Moya Moya disease Carotid artery - stenosis and endarterectomy Cavernous malformations He has special expertise in: Endovascular neurosurgery (also called interventional neuroradiology) – coil embolization of aneurysms Endoscopic approaches to pituitary tumors, meningiomas, and other mass lesions. Dr. Blackburn is highly rated in 27 conditions, according to our data. His clinical expertise encompasses Subarachnoid Hemorrhage, Stroke, Apoplexy, Thrombectomy, and Endovascular Embolization.

Sherise Ferguson is a Neurosurgery provider practicing medicine in Houston, Texas. Dr. Ferguson is highly rated in 18 conditions, according to our data. Her clinical expertise encompasses Metastatic Brain Tumor, Glioblastoma, Astrocytoma, Awake Craniotomy, and Gamma Knife Radiosurgery.

Dr. Nitin Tandon has special expertise in the surgical management of medically refractory epilepsy as well as functional mapping and resection of glial neoplasms. A professor of neurosurgery at McGovern Medical School, Dr. Tandon received his medical degree at the Armed Forces Medical College in Pune, India, followed by a residency in neurosurgery at The University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio. He completed a fellowship in epilepsy surgery at the Cleveland Clinic and has been in practice since 2003 at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center and on faculty at McGovern Medical School during that time. He has performed more than 3000 cranial operations, with over 1200 cranial operations for brain tumors and 700 cranial operations for the treatment of epilepsy. He has performed more than 200 craniotomies on patients who are awake for the purpose of mapping and preserving eloquent brain regions. He has co-authored many studies, which have been published in basic science journals such as Nature Neuroscience, Cerebral Cortex, Journal of Neuroscience, Journal of Neurosurgery, NeuroImage and Human Brain Mapping. His research studies focus on multi-modality assessments of cognitive functions combining intracranial recordings, functional MRI and direct cortical stimulation. He is funded by multiple grants from the NIH and the NSF to study and modulate brain networks involved in language, memory, prefrontal control and epilepsy. Most recently, he received a UO1 grant from the NIH BRAIN initiative, to probe the mechanisms of reading in the human brain. Dr. Tandon is a member of the Texas Medical Association, American Association of Neurological Surgeons, Organization of Human Brain Mapping, Society for Neuroscience, and the American Epilepsy Society. He is a member of the editorial board of Operative Neurosurgery and an ad hoc reviewer for many peer-reviewed journals. He routinely serves as a reviewer on NIH study sections. He has been an invited speaker at national and international conferences. More information about his research effort is at tandonlab.org. Dr. Tandon is highly rated in 27 conditions, according to our data. His clinical expertise encompasses Epilepsy, Seizures, Glioblastoma, Awake Craniotomy, and Deep Brain Stimulation.