Edward Robert Smith , MD

As a pediatric neurosurgeon at Childrens Hospital Boston (CHB), I divide my time equally between clinical and research efforts. My practice focuses on cerebrovascular disease and brain tumors, with a particular interest in moyamoya, arteriovenous malformations (AVM) and skull base tumors, including pituitary disease. These areas of clinical expertise are reflected in my roles as Director of Pediatric Cerebrovascular Surgery and Co-Director of the Stroke Center and Skull Base Center at Childrens Hosptial. CHB was ranked first in the country in 2010 by US News & World Report for Neurology and Neurosurgery, and we are recognized as having one of the largest pediatric moyamoya programs in the world, performing 40-50 operations annually and having treated over 400 patients for this disorder. This high-volume international practice is mirrored in our AVM and brain tumor referrals, enabling me in collaboration with colleagues - to develop a number of clinical innovations, including novel methods of AVM treatment, minimally invasive skull base endoscopic techniques in young children and new perioperative and surgical approaches for moyamoya patients. This work has impacted practice nationally, as recognized by invitations to serve as visiting professor, chair international symposia, author invited state-of-practice papers (such as the recent moyamoya article in the New England Journal of Medicine) and participate in the creation of clinical practice guidelines, including the American Heart Association Guidelines for the Management of Cerebrovascular Disorders in Infants and Children. My clinical practice drives my research efforts, with my laboratory focused on mechanisms of vascular regulation shared by both brain tumors and cerebrovascular disease. In particular, I am interested in the development of tests to better screen for the presence, recurrence and progression of brain tumors and cerebrovascular disease using non-invasive biomarkers. My laboratory published the first report describing the successful use of urinary biomarkers to identify brain tumors and has since expanded this work to include for the first time the ability of urinary biomarkers to predict therapeutic efficacy in cerebrovascular disease. This research, supported by the NIH and national foundations, will serve as the core of a planned 2011 national multicenter trial to study brain tumor recurrence. In addition to my clinical and research efforts, I enjoy teaching medical students, residents, fellows and colleagues in numerous capacities. I am actively involved in organized neurosurgery, serving local, regional and national leadership roles, including recently being named Chair of the Ethics Committee of the American Society of Pediatric Neurosurgery and voted as President-elect of the Young Neurosurgeons Committee of the American Association of Neurologic Surgery positions sought for their capacity to draw interested colleagues into the field and to drive neurosurgery toward translational research. My academic career has a discrete focus on pediatric cerebrovascular disease and brain tumors; disorders linked by similar operative approaches I use in the hospital and by common biologic processes I study in the laboratory. Through this specialization with efforts in education, organized neurosurgery, clinical practice and research it is my professional objective to develop cures for children afflicted with these diseases.

www.childrenshospital.org/cfapps/research/data_admin/Site2290/mainpageS2290P0.html

• Children's Hospital Boston

  300 Longwood Ave - Hunnewell 2
  Department of Neurosurgery

  Hunnewell 2

  Boston, MA  02115
  Phone: 617-355-8414
  Fax: 617-730-0906

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