The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences was founded in 1824 and is the eleventh oldest medical school in the United States. The GW Medical Center is an internationally recognized, interdisciplinary academic health center comprising the University Hospital, the GW Medical Faculty Associates, the School of Medicine and Health Sciences, the School of Public Health and Health Services. The Neurosurgery Residency Training Program at George Washington University was originally accredited on September 1, 1966.
 
The beginnings of neurosurgical practice in the Washington, DC area date to 1915 when Harry H. Kerr became Professor of Surgery at The George Washington University and, later in 1919, Professor of Neurosurgery, a position he held until 1930. Dr. Kerr attended medical school at McGill University, and during World War I he was appointed as an aid to Harvey Cushing at which time he developed an interest in Neurosurgery. He was one of the pioneers of the surgery on the sympathetic nervous system and served as the president of the Society of Neurological Surgeons from 1933 - 1934.
 
The Department of Neurology at GWU was established June 2, 1932 with Walter Freeman serving as its first Chairman. In 1935 James W. Watts accepted an offer to join the Department of Neurology as a neurosurgeon. Dr. Watts was born in Lynchberg, Virginia in 1904. He graduated from the University of Virginia Medical School in 1928 and was influenced by Dr. Cushing to pursue neurosurgery during a clerkship rotation at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital. Drs. Watts and Freeman developed procedures for, and published extensively on, the surgical treatment for psychiatric disorders. Their experience with the procedures that included frontal lobotomy and leucotomy were immortalized in over 50 papers and 2 books published in the 1940’s and 1950’s.
 
In 1954 the Department of Neurosurgery was established separate from the Department of Neurology, and Dr. Watts continued as the Chairman until his retirement in 1969. Dr. Hugo V. Rizzoli then became Acting Chairman in 1969 and was later appointed Chairman in 1971. Dr. Rizzoli was the first full-time Chairman of Neurosurgery at The George Washington University Department of Neurosurgery.
 
Dr. Rizzoli obtained his medical degree from Johns Hopkins University in 1940. He became a “Harvey Cushing Fellow” and resident on Dr. Walter Dandy’s service. In 1944, after completing his residency, he served in the United States Army Medical Corps during World War II. In 1946 he entered the practice of Neurosurgery in Washington, DC and joined the faculty at George Washington University. In 1958 he became head of Neurosurgery at the newly established Washington Hospital Center. He became Chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery at GWU in 1971 and continued in that position until 1987 when he became Professor Emeritus.
 
Dr. Edward Laws became the department’s Chairman from 1987 - 1992. During Dr. Law’s time as chairman the department for pituitary surgery and the treatment of endocrine disorders, establishing a dominance in transsphenoidal surgery. In addition the George Washington University Neurologic Institute (GWNI) was established during his tenure to focus the neurologic and neurosurgical care in a center based framework. The interdisciplinary energy of the specialists from different departments provide efficient, comprehensive and “cutting edge” care for patients with neurologic disorders. Dr. Laws resigned in 1992 to assume a faculty position at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.
 
The fourth Chairman of Neurosurgery was Dr. Laligam N. Sekhar who served from April, 1993 - June, 1999. Dr. Sekhar expanded the Skull based center and developed an educational and training program for Skull Based surgery. The micronurosurgery training lab in Ross Hall was opened at that time to provide hands-on instruction for mucrosurgical approaches. Dr. Sekhar resigned his appointment as Chairman in 1999 to pursue private practice opportunities, and is currently at the University of Washington.
 
Dr. Anthony J. Caputy became the Acting Chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery in February, 1999 and was subsequently appointed chairman in October 2001. As Chairman Dr. Caputy restructured the training program, creating an “academic day” each week in which the resident has protected time to participate in lectures and didactic exercises designed to enhance the education of neurosurgeon in training. The conferences include Neurosurgery Grand Rounds, Neurology Grand Rounds, Case conferences and M&M, Surgical Pathology, Brain Cutting, and Epilepsy Conference. Each week at the NIH there are conferences that enhance the residents education . These include the NINDS grand rounds, neurosurgical clinical case conference, and neurosurgical research conference. In addition, there are monthly surgical dissections in the microsurgical lab during which the residents define the surgical anatomy and develop surgical techniques on cadaver models. The residents receive direct hands on instruction from the neurosurgery faculty. The monthly journal club conference has required attendance.
 
The microneurosurgical lab received endowment funding and now exists as the Harvey H. Ammerman microsurgical lab. This lab has become an integral component of the residents’ educational and training in Neurosurgery A structured dissection course on cadaver models teaches the residents basic surgical approaches. The dissections are supervised by the Neurosurgery faculty and are supplemented by anatomic lectures
 
The Clinical program has expanded to include rotations at the National Institute of Health, in Bethesda Maryland, and at the INOVA Fairfax hospital , in Virginia. The residents at GWU have the opportunity to do at least one year of research under the faculty at the NINDS Surgical Neurology Branch. In addition the resident does a six month rotation on the clinical service at the NIH. The NIH affiliation has become an integral component of the training program at the George Washington University (GWU). The entire residency complement participates in weekly academic day conferences at the NIH.
 
Inova Fairfax hospital is the level I trauma center for northern Virginia. . Residents in all levels participate in weekly teaching conferences, outpatient clinics, treatment planning sessions, and in Emergency Department evaluations. In addition to the trauma experience the is a wide variety of clinical and surgical cases. At Inova Fairfax Hospital there is an academic service that is staffed by full time and clinical faculty members of the GWU department of neurosurgery.
 
The George Washington University department of Neurosurgery is committed to providing the optimal Training, Educational, and Research experience for each resident entering this program.

The Neurosurgery Residency Program
 
The first resident in Neurosurgery at George Washington University was Jonathan O. Williams in 1940.
 
The current Neurosurgery training program at GWU is a 5-year program following internship. The clinical neurosurgical services are centered at George Washington University Hospital(GWU), Inova Fairfax Hospital (IFX), The National Institute of Health (NIH), and The Children’s National Medical Center(CNMC). Standing electives exist in Neurology, Neuropathology, Neuroradiology, and in the Ammerman Microsurgical Laboratory. Other electives to expand or diversify training are also encouraged.
 
The resident may elect to do a fellowship year at the NIH in a rotation outside of the 5 year training program commitment.