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Michael L.J. Apuzzo


Michael L. J. Apuzzo, M.D. PhD (born May 22, 1940) is an American academic neurological surgeon. Since 1973, he has been a member of the faculty of the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Apuzzo's activities have included surgery, teaching, and research principally focusing on diseases of the brain and their surgical management. He has been active in scientific publishing and currently is Editor-in-Chief of the international peer-reviewed journal WORLD NEUROSURGERY WORLDNEUROSURGERY.ORG.

Current Appointments
He is the Edwin M. Todd/Trent H. Wells, Jr. Professor of Neurological Surgery and Radiation Oncology, Biology, and Physics at the Keck School of Medicine University of Southern California in Los Angeles. He is Director of Neurosurgery at the Kenneth Norris, Jr. Cancer Hospital and Research Institute. He is Senior Clinical Director of Surgical Neuro-Oncology. He is Director of the Gamma Unit Facility at the USC University Hospital and Neurosurgical Director of the Norris CyberKnife Facility at the Norris Hospital.

Early Life and Education
Apuzzo is the son of a maritime family with roots in Amalfi, Italy (Dominic John Apuzzo, a precision machinist and craftsman) and Vienna, Austria (Ann Janet Lorenz, a registered nurse). A New Haven, Connecticut native, he attended college preparatory school at the Hopkins Grammar School and went to Yale College where he completed an active academic and athletic career. He obtained his medical degree at Boston University and after taking general surgery training in Montreal at McGill’s Royal Victoria Hospital, he returned to the Yale School of Medicine to complete neurosurgical residency at the Yale New Haven Hospital, the West Haven Veteran's Administration Hospital, and the Hartford Hospital with additional fellowships in neurophysiology and neuro-pathology. During that period he also obtained special training in nuclear, submarine and deep sea diving medical specialties at the United States Naval Submarine School at Groton, Connecticut; following which, he served in the United States Naval Nuclear Submarine Service assigned to extended Polaris submarine patrols for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to polar regions, the Mediterranean and Black Seas receiving Atlantic Fleet and Admiral’s Commendations and the Surgeon General’s Award for distinguished service and unusual achievements. This service was principally out of Holy Loch, Scotland, assigned to the "Gold Crew" of the Robert E. Lee (SSBN-601) one of the original five George Washington class fleet ballistic missile (FBM) nuclear submarines created as a deterrent by Hyman G. Rickover.

Early Professional Life
He joined the faculty at the University of Southern California School of Medicine in 1973. There in 1975, he established one of the world’s first central nervous system immunology and cellular biology laboratories. At the Los Angeles County General Hospital, he developed programs for the study of refinements of microsurgical techniques for intra-cranial and transcerebral surgeries for the management of intracranial neoplasms. In particular, he devised, described, and advocated complex midline transcerebral microsurgical corridors to the brain's centrally located third ventricle, ultimately popularizing these approaches internationally. During this period, he helped to establish the microscope as a regular and essential component of the general neurosurgical armamentarium. He was appointed Professor with tenure by early selection in 1980.

Clinical Activities
In 1979, he was a primary clinical motivator in the emergence of imaging directed stereotactic neurosurgery as a modern component of the world’s neurosurgery armamentarium and worked in developing, testing, and refining prototype stereotactic systems and technical adjuvants both in the laboratory and clinical sectors. These devices and methods created a mode of intracranial navigation that brought the performance of intracranial surgery to a new level of precision and safety, affecting the technical practice of neurosurgery universally. He introduced the computer as an intraoperative neurosurgical tool.

During that same period, he reintroduced intracranial endoscopy as a technical adjunct. He took an early leadership position in stereotactic radiosurgery introducing and developing rotational dynamic radiosurgery techniques and performing the first procedure using these methods for brain tumors and arteriovenous malformations in North America.

He has been active in studying the concept of functional restoration in the central nervous system and performed North America’s first human stereotactic cerebral grafting research procedure for the amelioration of Parkinsonism. He conceived the term “cellular and molecular neuro-surgery” and creating a synthesis has promoted the amalgam of molecular biology and neurosurgery in the comprehension and management of neurological diseases. He developed the concept of minimally invasive neurosurgery and played a primary role in the investigation and application of vagal nerve stimulation for the management of intractable epilepsy establishing a new and important direction in the treatment and understanding of this disease and further defining pathways of cerebral function.

He has consistently worked to introduce elements of advanced technology to neurosurgery and the operative events working closely as a special consultant to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) through the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the Cape Kennedy-Canaveral Facilities effecting important transfer of concepts and devices to patient treatment and research.

Recognitions
Apuzzo is an honorary member of multiple national and international organizations. He has served as Honored Guest Laureate for the Congress if Neurological Surgeons. He was awarded the William Beecher Scoville Prize for being exemplary of the “art and science” of Neurosurgery by the World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies. He was awarded the Van Heck Prize by the Belgian National Foundation for Scientific Research for “work in the treatment of untreatable diseases.” He has been honored by the World Health Organization (WHO), World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies (WFNS) and Queen Sophia of Spain with the Sixto Obrador Medal and Sweden’s National Center for Research and Higher Education in Medicine, the Karolinska Institute, with the Herbert Olivecrona Award for unusual and seminal contributions to the field. He has received a Doctorate honoris pro causa from the 85 member Italian National University Consortium administered by the University Suor Orsola Benincasa in Naples. He received University Gold Medals from Boston University in Boston and the University of Messina in Italy for his contributions to neurosurgery, medicine, internationalization and humanities. He is the recipient of the Vilhelm Magnus Medal and the renowned Francesco Durante International Prize. He has delivered multiple keynote and named addresses at national and international meetings.The Congress of Neurological Surgeons had established the Michael L. J. Apuzzo Lecture on Creativity and Innovation as a keynote lecture at its annual meeting. The Michael L.J. Apuzzo Professorship for Advanced Neurological Surgery was established in May 2009 at the Keck School of Medicine. The Apuzzo Prize for Creativity and Innovation has been established at both the Boston University and Keck Schools of Medicine.

Sports
He is principle Neurosurgical Consultant for the University of Southern California Trojans Athletic Department and the New York Giants and a consultant to the NFL Commissioner and the Leagues committee on head and spinal trauma. Additionally, he has served as advisor to the National Football Leagues Committee on Head Injury. He serves as consultant to the activities of teams and clubs of the National Football League (NFL), Major League Baseball (MLB), the National Hockey League (NHL) and the National Basketball Association (NBA). Beginning in 1978, based on the legacy of University of Michigan’s Richard C. Schnieder, he initiated activities to establish the role of neurosurgery in the arena of organized sport. Initially at the University of Southern California, he established an active role in the areas of head protection, injury prevention, assessment and treatment with athletic trainer Byron Hansen and later Russ Romano and a succession of Coaches and Athletic Directors at that institution. Subsequently, he worked to establish injury management protocols with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and National Football League (NFL). As Editor of NEUROSURGERY, he established a section on sport which covered minor traumatic brain injury in sports. Later, as special advisor to the National Football League Committee on traumatic brain injury, he established injury prevention recognition and management protocols that are now adapted under the Commissioners: Paul Tagliabue and Roger Goodell. He is involved in investigational protocols to define and predict sequellae of minor traumatic brain injury in the athlete. These studies include aspects of advanced imaging techniques and definition of genetic profiles.