Neurosurgery History and Milestones

2016: The Department of Neurosurgery's clinic moved into the Neurosciences Center a multidisciplinary clinic located in The Building for Transformative Medicine (BTM).

2015: The Interventional Neuroradiology (INR) Surgical Suite opened in the Department of Neurosurgery, providing breakthrough technology in endovascular neurosurgery.

2014: The first steel beam was placed to begin building The Building for Transformative Medicine (BTM), which will be completed in late 2016.

2013: Rick and Susan Sontag generously donate $1 million to Brigham and Women's Hospital to establish the Adult Hydrocephalus Program, the only one of its kind in New England.

2013: Dr. E. Antonio Chiocca is named the Inaugural Harvey W. Cushing Professor of Neurosurgery, established by the Daniel E. Ponton Fund.

2012: Dr. E. Antonio Chiocca is appointed the new Chairman of Neurosurgery to lead Brigham and Women's Department of Neurosurgery into its second century.

2011: Brigham and Women's Hospital unveils the Advanced Multimodality Image Guided Operating (AMIGO) Suite, giving interventional radiologists and surgeons immediate access to a full array of advanced imaging modalities.

2010: Dr. Ossama Al-Mefty joins Brigham and Women's Department of Neurosurgery and establishes the Skull Base Center.

2009: Dr. A. John Popp is appointed the new Chair of the Department while maintaining his role as director of the neurosurgical residency program.

2009: Support from the Ponton Fund enables Dr. Alexandra Golby and a team of Brigham and Women’s Hospital neurosurgeons to teach neurosurgical techniques to Tanzanian clinicians.

2008: Dr. Edward R. Laws joins Brigham and Women’s Hospital as the director of the newly established Pituitary/Neuroendocrine Center.

2007: BWH announces, after a national search, Dr. Arthur Day as the Department's new Chair and Neurosurgeon-in-Chief.

2003: Thanks to the generous support of the Brain Science Foundation and founders Steven and Kathleen Haley, the Department of Neurosurgery unveils its newly remodeled Neurosurgery Patient Care Center.

1999: The Journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons honors Dr. Harvey Cushing’s legacy by naming him “Neurosurgeon of the Century”.

1994: Brigham and Women’s Hospital unveils the world's first Intra-Operative Magnetic Resonance Imaging System for neurosurgery, specifically brain tumor craniotomy.

1987: Dr. Peter Black is appointed the 3rd Franc D. Ingraham Professor of Neurosurgery at Harvard Medical School.

1980: The Affiliated Hospitals Center is renamed Brigham and Women's Hospital.

1976: The Peter Bent Brigham Hospital becomes part of the Affiliated Hospitals Center, which also included the Robert Breck Hospital, the Boston Lying-In Maternity Hospital and the Parkway Division of the Women’s Hospital.

1971: Dr. Keasley Welch is appointed as the 2nd Franc D. Ingraham Professor of Neurosurgery at Harvard Medical School, following Matson's untimely death in 1969.

1968: Dr. Donald Matson is appointed the inaugural Franc D. Ingraham Professor of Neurosurgery at Harvard Medical School.

1965: Upon Dr. Ingraham’s retirement, Dr. Donald Matson is appointed Chief of Neurosurgery. In Dr. Ingraham’s memory, the Franc D. Ingraham Professorship of Neurosurgery is established at the Harvard Medical School.

1954: Dr. Ingraham and his protégé, Donald D. Matson, publish their authoritative work, The Neurosurgery of Infancy and Childhood, the first pediatric neurosurgery textbook in the world.

1944: Dr. Franc D. Ingraham becomes the chief of the adult neurosurgical service at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, while continuing to lead the Department of Neurosurgery at Children’s Hospital Boston.

1931: Dr. Harvey Cushing performs the 2,000th verified brain tumor operation at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital.

1929: Dr. Franc D. Ingraham, Cushing’s protégé, establishes the first pediatric neurosurgery service in the world at Boston Children’s Hospital.

1913: The Peter Bent Brigham Hospital opens with Dr. Harvey Cushing as its first Surgeon-in-Chief. It is joined in 1914 by Children’s Hospital Boston. The proximity of these medical facilities to Harvard Medical School creates an instant medical complex destined to impact medical sciences in Boston and the world beyond.