Neuropathology Environment:
The clinical base of the program comprises the multiple campuses of University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) (over 1500 medical surgical beds), the VA Medical Center (518 beds), and Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh (210 beds). UPMC sponsors the largest Neurosurgical staff in the United States, including numerous centers for; Brain Trauma Research, Brain Tumor Surgery, Clinical Neurophysiology, Cranial Base Surgery, Image-Guided Neurosurgery, Minimally Invasive Neurosurgery, Pediatric Neurosurgery, and Cerebrovascular/Stroke Institute. Neuropathology fellows work closely with the Neurosurgical staff and residents. For fiscal year 2002-2003 a total of 2303 neurosurgical procedures were performed. A total of 203 neurosurgical cases are performed annually at Childrens hospital. Approximately 316 muscle and nerve biopsies and 304 autopsies are performed annually at both hospitals.
Members of the Division have extensive research collaborations with numerous local Centers and Departments (e.g. Neuropathology Core for the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, Parkinson's Disease Center for Excellence, etc.) in addition to International collaborations (e.g. International Society of Neuropathology). Annual extramural funding of faculty is between $1,000,000 and $2,000,000.
Numerous teaching, clinical and research conferences are held weekly. Autopsy brain-cutting conferences are consolidated into 3 hospitals. Quality assurance conference held weekly facilities review of all interesting cases by clinically involved faculty, fellows, residents and students.
