Biography
Griff Harsh is Professor and Chair of the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of New Mexico. He is also Distinguished Professor, former Chair of the Department of Neurological Surgery and former Chair of the Council of Department Chairs of the School of Medicine of the University of California, Davis. He previously served as Associate Dean for Postgraduate Education, Professor of Neurological Surgery, and Director of the Brain Tumor Center at the Stanford University School of Medicine. Prior to that he was Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School and Executive Director of the Brain Tumor Center at Massachusetts General Hospital and Assistant Professor at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Harsh earned an A.B. degree, summa cum laude, from Harvard College, an M.A. from Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar, an M.D. from Harvard Medical School, and an M.B.A from Boston University. He is certified by the American Board of Neurological Surgery. Past and current national leadership roles include President of the American Academy of Neurological Surgeons, President of the Neurosurgical Society of America, Chairman of the Neurosurgical Research and Education Foundation, and Chairman of the ACGME Residency Review Committee for Neurosurgery. In 2022, he received the Career Service Award of the Society of Neurological Surgeons.
Personal Statement
Dr. Harsh is highly comitted to pateint-focused clinical care of the highest quality, education, and research. He has collaboratively developed and managed multiple clinical centers of excellence at UCSF, MGH-Harvard, Stanford, UC Davis, and the University of New Mexico, while building significant referral specialty neurosurgical practices, leading a residency program, developing NIH R25-supported programs for resident training in research at two institutions, conducting clinical and basic science research, authoring over 240 peer-reviewed scientific articles and book chapters (many of which focus on brain tumors, especially gliomas (n=70) and the roles of growth factor-related oncogenes in their development (n=30)), and originating and editing four multi-authored biomedical texts.
Areas of Specialty
1. Tumors of the brain and skull base - surgery and radiosurgery
2. Pituitary tumors - surgery and radiosurgery
3. Surgery and radiosurgery: glioma, meningioma, schwannoma, trigeminal neuralgia
4. Research 1: Molecular biology of brain tumor devlopment
5. Research 2: Optical intraoperative imaging of brain tumors
Education
A.B. Harvard College (summa cum laude)
M.A. Oxford University (Rhodes Scholar)
M.D. Harvard Medical School
M.B.A. Boston University
Neurosugery Internship, Residency Univeristy of California, San Francisco
NCI Research Fellowship Univeristy of California, San Francisco
Skull Base Surgery Fellowship University of Pittsburgh
Stereotactic Radiosurgery Fellowhsip University of Pittsburgh
Certifications
American Board of Neurological Surgery (lifetime and continuing certification)
Achievements & Awards
President of the American Academy of Neurological Surgeons
President of the Neurosurgical Society of America
Chairman of the Neurosurgical Research and Education Foundation
Chairman of the ACGME Residency Review Committee for Neurosurgery
Career Service Award from the Society of Neurological Surgeons
Gender
Male
Courses Taught
Professor and mentor to @120 residents in neurosurgery and @20 medical students and residents in research at UCSF, MGH-Harvard, Stanford, UC Davis, the Univeristy of Nairobi, Kenyatta University, and the Univeristy of New Mexico .
Research and Scholarship
National Center for Interventional Biophotonics Technologies: Co-founded and now co-direct an NIH-NIBIB P41-supported national biomedical engineering research center encompassing 48 scientists and clinicians at 16 American and European medical schools and companies for development, clinical translation, and dissemination of novel optical imaging technologies.