SAN FRANCISCO - P. Charles Garell, MD, was presented with the 2000 Van Wagenen Fellowship at the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) Annual Meeting in San Francisco, California, April 8-13, 2000. The Fellowship provides funds for one-year of research outside of North America.

Dr. Garell earned his bachelor's degree from Cornell University and his medical degree from State University of New York at Syracuse, before completing his residency in general surgery at the University of Iowa. At present, Dr. Garell is the Chief Neurosurgical Resident at the University of Iowa.

Dr. Garell's research has focused on the anatomy and cortical physiology of higher order hearing in humans and its relationship to speech and language. Dr. Garell will use the Van Wagenen Fellowship to study under Alim-Louis Benabid, MD, PhD, at Centre Hospialier Universitaire in Grenoble, France. Dr. Benabid is a leader in functional neurosurgery, and his laboratory is at the forefront of clinical investigations of basic neurophysiology of the basal ganglia.

The primary goal of Dr. Garell’s six-month fellowship is to investigate the activity of the basal ganglia in response to acoustic stimulation in both animals and humans. There have been anatomic studies in animals linking the auditory pathway to the putamen and functional imaging studies in humans that demonstrate activation of the basal ganglia in response to sound, but no direct research in this area in humans. Thus, this project combines the strengths of Dr. Garell’s previous work in auditory physiology with the expertise of Dr. Benabid’s laboratory in basal ganglia physiology, into a new and potentially important avenue of research.

In recognition of his research in the area of electrophysiology, Dr. Garell received the 1998-1999 National Institutes of Health Individual National Research Service Award. In addition, he was the recipient of the American Federation of Clinical Research's Medical Student Award (1993).

Dr. Garell has written extensively about his work, having authored nearly 30 articles and abstracts. In addition, he has served as a guest lecturer at several scientific conferences, where he discussed the nature of his clinical research.

Founded in 1931 as the Harvey Cushing Society, the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) is a scientific and educational association with nearly 5,500 members worldwide. The AANS is dedicated to advancing the specialty of neurological surgery in order to provide the highest quality of neurosurgical care to the public. All active members of the AANS are Board-certified by the American Board of Neurological Surgery. Neurosurgery is the medical specialty concerned with the prevention, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation of disorders that affect the spine, brain, nervous system and peripheral nerves.