Congress of Neurological Surgeons Paper of the Year

Thanks in no small part to a collaboration with St. Jude Research Hospital, Dr. Klimo, alongside Semmes Murphey residents Kara Parikh and Garrett Venable, studied the treatment of rare pineoblastoma tumors in adolescent patients. They sought to document outcomes with multimodal therapy and evaluate the impact that the degree of surgical resection has on the outcome.

Pineoblastomas are rare, malignant tumors that account for <1% of all pediatric brain tumors and are more commonly found in young children. Due to the excellence of St. Jude as a center for the research and treatment of childhood diseases, our Semmes Murphey physicians had unique access to a larger group of pineoblastoma patient than they might have elsewhere.

Kara Parikh began this pineoblastoma research four years ago as a medical student working as a summer intern at St. Jude for her assigned mentors, Dr. Boop, and Dr. Klimo. When recounting this experience, she notes that,

“One of many things that made the Semmes Murphey-UTHSC program my number one pick for residency was experiencing the intentional mentorship and guidance I received while working on this research. This project sharpened my interest in and ability to conduct clinically relevant research. It also allowed me to realize the incredible opportunities for training and mentorship from both attendings and residents at a program where I now am privileged to be a resident myself.”

Kara’s role as first author on this project involved literature review, data collection, and manuscript production with her co-authors. Dr. Klimo was the Senior Author and mentor for this project.

Nominated for Paper of the Year by the Congress of Neurological Surgeons, this paper won in the Pediatrics Section.

You can find the full paper in Neurosurgery journals, or read an excerpt here:

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