Keith L. Black, M.D., Director of the Cedars-Sinai Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute, has been elected as a member to the European Academy of Sciences in the section of Biomedical Sciences with the citation "for an outstanding and lasting contribution to the field of neurosurgery." In addition, he has been selected to receive a "Candle Award in Science & Technology" from the prestigious Morehouse College.
According to the Academy, which is located in Brussels, Belgium, Dr. Black was elected "for outstanding, influential and lasting contributions to biomedical sciences and pioneering developments in the field of brain tumors that make chemotherapy treatments much more effective than ever before."
The Academy is comprised of the most distinguished group of scientists of this century, including Nobel Prize winners who made important contributions to science and technology and to human progress. Members are elected on the basis of their distinguished and unique contribution to modern science and technology. Academy membership is considered one of the highest honors attributed to a researcher or engineer.
Dr. Black also was also recently selected to receive a "Candle Award in Science & Technology." The award will be presented at Morehouse College's 15th annual "A Candle in the Dark" Gala on Feb. 15, 2003, in Atlanta. This event will also mark the College's 136th anniversary.
Founded in 1867, Morehouse is the nation's only historically black, liberal arts college for men. The Candle Award is reserved for non-alumni of the College who it wishes to honor for their outstanding leadership and service to society.
Dr. Black is among only a handful of neurosurgeons across the United States who perform hundreds of brain tumor operations each year. In fact, the precision of his surgical skill enables him to remove tumors that often have been considered inoperable.
He is not satisfied to merely remove brain tumors, however. His greater goal is to obliterate brain cancers altogether, and he has devoted his experience and knowledge as a scientist to this endeavor. Since founding the Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in 1997, he has steadily assembled a surgical, research and clinical team to treat virtually all of the problems that can occur within the brain -- and to devise never-imagined ways to treat, prevent and, he hopes, eradicate brain tumors within the next few years.
"We want to bring together a few of the best scientists in the area of brain tumors and have them interact with neurosurgeons and neuro-oncologists who are clinically working to find cures for brain tumors," says Dr. Black. "Jointly, we can solve very difficult problems in a unique way that neither group could accomplish independently."
Dr. Black sees the Institute providing a link between the scientists performing basic research in laboratories and the physicians and other professionals providing patient care. "As we make new discoveries in the laboratories -- perhaps discovering new genes that may be important in treating Parkinson's disease or brain tumors -- we can quickly translate those into new clinical treatments, and we can focus the basic scientists on our specific clinical problems," he says.
Within the short history of the Institute, Dr. Black and his team of researchers have already discovered genes that appear to play a role in the development of brain tumors. They have developed a vaccine that is proving to be effective in preventing the recurrence of some of the most aggressive types of brain tumors. They are researching innovative methods for enhancing the immune system to fight cancers, constantly seeking better methods of delivering chemotherapy directly to the site of a tumor, and working with the finest medical equipment manufacturers to advance treatment technologies, giving Cedars-Sinai patients immediate access to the most sophisticated systems.
In addition to directing the Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute, Dr. Black serves as director of Cedars-Sinai's Division of Neurosurgery and the Comprehensive Brain Tumor Program. Shortly after his arrival at Cedars-Sinai in 1997, he was awarded the Ruth and Lawrence Harvey Chair in Neuroscience.
Dr. Black has published more than 200 scientific articles and chapters and has presented his findings at more than 300 national and international meetings. His work has been the subject of numerous broadcast and print media stories, including a 1996 PBS program, "The New Explorers," a Time Magazine cover and feature article in 1997, and a segment on CBS Sunday Morning.
Since 1994, he has served on the National Institutes of Health's Board of Scientific Counselors for Neurological Disorders and Strokes, one of several NIH positions he has held. He is a member of the Medical Advisory Board of the National Brain Tumor Association and a member of the board of directors of the Los Angeles World Affairs Council. In addition, he serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Neuro-Oncology, Neurological Research, the Journal of Radiosurgery, Perspectives in Neurological Surgery, Critical Reviews in Neurosurgery, and Gene Therapy and Molecular Biology.
He and his wife, Carol J. Bennett, M.D., have two children, Teal Etoile Black and Keith Quinten Black.
RSS