2024 Faculty and Staff

Leadership at Neurosurgery Rookie Camp

Faculty
Cian O’Kelly Director Dr. Cian O’Kelly is an academic neurosurgeon and Associate Professor of Surgery at the University of Alberta. He attended medical school at the University of Alberta, graduating in 2001. This was followed by neurosurgical residency training at the University of Toronto. While in Toronto, Dr. O’Kelly also completed a Masters in Clinical Epidemiology with the Institute of Health Policy Management and Evaluation and further fellowship training in cerebrovascular and endovascular neurosurgery. Dr. O’Kelly’s current practice focuses on cerebrovascular and skull base neurosurgery, combined with endovascular neurointerventional surgery.
David Clarke Dr. Clarke is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. He is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons. His clinical interests are predominantly in the areas of the management of pituitary and brain tumors, surgical treatment of epilepsy, and traumatic brain injury. He is Co-Chair of the Halifax Neuropituitary Program and Co-Chair of the Epilepsy Program. He has special interest in the application of simulation technologies to neurosurgical education. Dr. Clarke performed the World’s first open brain surgery in a virtual reality environment for which he was awarded the National Research Council’s Outstanding Achievement Award for Canada. He has served as Vice-Chair of Canada’s Royal College Specialty Committee in Neurosurgery. He is Founder and Past Director of Canada’s national Rookie Camp for new neurosurgical trainees. In 2020, Dr. Clarke performed the first-in-Canada robotic surgery using the Medtronic Stealth AutoguideTM. He has published over 85 peer-reviewed articles.
Carlo Santaguida Dr. Carlo Santaguida is a spine neurosurgeon with a broad skill set ranging from minimally invasive surgery to complex deformity corrections. He emphasizes quality assurance and utilizes data collection to evaluate surgical and non-surgical management of patients to ensure patients maximize their potential to the best outcome possible. He is involved in the undergraduate Dean’s office and prioritizes all forms of education. He was integral in merging the McGill orthopedic and neurosurgery spine programs, which should greatly improve patient care and medical education. To address long wait times, Dr. Santaguida has developed a physiotherapist-led surgical triage process to reduce both wait times and MRI utilization while improving patient outcomes. He hopes that this program can serve as a model for all musculoskeletal-related pathology.
Jeffrey Atkinson Dr. Jeffrey Atkinson is a neurosurgeon who works at Montreal Children's Hospital located at 2300 Tupper Street, Montréal, QC H3H 1P3. As a dedicated neurosurgeon, he performs a variety of complex surgeries on the brain, peripheral nerves and the spinal cord. Among his/her task as a neurosurgeon includes examining, diagnosing, and surgically treating different disorders involving the nervous system. He also helps in rectifying problems related to neurology using surgeries.
Peter Gooderham Peter Gooderham is the leading neurosurgeon in Vancouver county, who has a clinical interest in performing general neurosurgery, cerebrovascular and endoscopic skull base surgeries. He confers a specialized treatment for non-life-threatening emergencies and surgical care.
Adrienne Weeks Dr. Adrienne Weeks is a neurosurgeon, interventional neuroradiologist and scientist with a particular interest in brain cancer. In the OR, she removes the bulk of glioblastoma tumours—hard-to-treat tumours that spread spider-web like throughout the brain. In the lab, she cultures patients' cancer cells into models of glioblastoma, so she can study the role of RNA stress granules in the deadly cancer's progression
Fawaz Siddiqi Dr. Siddiqi joined the Department in 2011 and specializes in spine surgery. He is the Director of the Neurosurgery Residency Program. His clinical practice is predominantly focused on spinal oncology, adult spinal degenerative conditions, and spinal and cranial trauma.
Joseph Megyesi Dr. Megyesi received his MD from Western University in 1985. He completed a comprehensive surgical internship the same institution followed by a neurosurgical residency at the University of Alberta Hospitals in Edmonton. Following his training, Dr. Megyesi completed fellowships at Harvard University and the University of Alberta. Dr. Megyesi joined the Department in 1998 and specializes in neuro-oncology. He is currently Assistant Professor in the Division of Neurosurgery at Western University. He is also Director of Research in the Division of Neurosurgery, coordinator of Neurosurgery Residency Seminar Series and Board Member of Brain Tumor Tissue Bank.
Patrick MacDonald Dr. McDonald is the Head of the Section of Neurosurgery at the University of Manitoba and a pediatric neurosurgeon at Winnipeg Children’s Hospital. He is Vice Chair of the Neurosurgery Specialty Committee of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and Chair of the Ethics Committee of the Royal College. He has served as an Oral Examiner for the Neurosurgery exam and is a member of the written exam committee.
David Steven Dr. Steven is currently a Professor and the Richard and Beryl Ivey Chair of the Department of Clinical Neurological Sciences. Dr. Steven has been heavily involved with the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada as a member of the Specialty Committee in Neurosurgery, a Royal College surveyor and examiner. He has been an examiner since 2008 and is the current Chair of the Royal College Examination Board in Neurosurgery.
Sean Barry Dr. Sean Barry is in an Assistant Professor with the Division of Neurosurgery at Dalhousie University, in Halifax. He completed his medical school and neurosurgical residency at Dalhousie. During his residency, he obtained a masters degree in Bioethics from K.U Leuven in Belgium. He subsequently completed a clinical fellowship in Spine Surgery at the Toronto Western Hospital. He has a busy clinical practice with an emphasis on disorders of the cervical spine. His research and teaching interests include Bioethical issues as they pertain to neuro and spinal surgery.
Mel Boulton Co-Chair Dr. Boulton initially attended Queen's University at Kingston, where he earned his Bachelor of Science (honours) in 1994. This experience instilled a keen interest in medical research that was cultivated during his Ph.D. years studying cerebrospinal fluid physiology under the supervision of Dr. Miles Johnston. Medical school and Neurosurgical training followed at the University of Toronto, headed by Dr. Chris Wallace and Dr. Jim Rutka. Fellowship training in neuroendovascular treatment was completed under the guidance of Dr. Tom Marotta at the St. Michael's Hospital Neurovascular Program.
Sandrine de Ribaupierre Co-Chair Dr. de Ribaupierre earned her MD at the University of Geneva in Switzerland. After a Neurosurgery residency in Lausanne (Switzerland), she completed an epilepsy fellowship in the Fondation Rothschild in Paris (France), then a paediatric neurosurgery fellowship in the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. Dr. de Ribaupierre joined the Department of Clinical Neurological Sciences in London, Ontario in 2008.She is currently an Associate Professor , working as a paediatric neurosurgeon with some involvement in paediatric and adult trauma and adult epilepsy and endoscopic surgery. Her main research areas are medical education, using virtual and augmented reality as an educational tool, with a special interest in neuroanatomy. She is also interested in surgical simulation with the development and evaluation of AR/VR tools for surgical simulation. Her clinical research focuses on epilepsy, cognition and functional imaging. She is collaborating with CSTAR, Robarts and the Centre for Brain and Mind. On-going projects include the evaluation of surgical simulators (NRC, AngioMentor), online neuroanatomical curriculum with a spin on a learner's point of view, brain variability using fMRI and DTI, and new technologies to monitor IVH in preterm infants.
Support

Sabrina Eng, University of Alberta
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