Chief of neurosurgery shares enthusiasm, vision for Texas Children’s neurosurgery program

September 20, 2016

Before Dr. Howard Weiner accepted his new position as chief of neurosurgery, he knew that Texas Children’s Hospital was the place he wanted to be.

“When I visited Texas Children’s, I was literally blown away by this place,” said Weiner, who also serves as professor of neurosurgery at Baylor College of Medicine. “Speaking with the people here, hearing about the vision, the leadership, the direction, it was very infectious. This was where I needed to be for the next 15, 20 years of my career to do the things that I wanted to accomplish in pediatric neurosurgery for our patients.”

Prior to joining Texas Children’s neurosurgery team, Weiner received his undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania and his medical degree from Cornell University Medical College. During his residency, he was a Howard Hughes Medical Institute research fellow in the Department of Biochemistry at New York University. Following residency, Weiner was awarded the Van Wagenen Fellowship by the American Association of Neurological Surgeons to study brain development in Paris. He also completed a fellowship in pediatric neurosurgery at New York University Langone Medical Center, where his career continued for a total of nearly 27 years altogether.

With nearly three decades of experience in the field, Weiner shares his enthusiasm for the future of Texas Children’s neurosurgery program and the opportunity to work alongside a neurosurgery team that he describes as an “incredible team of innovators.”

“If you take every one on the faculty in neurosurgery here at Texas Children’s, everyone is driving their individual sub-specialty area,” Weiner said. “We are using minimally invasive approaches, like laser ablation, to treat epileptic brain lesions and brain tumors. Our teams are developing new techniques in fetal surgery to treat hydrocephalus and we are leading the way in defining neurosurgical clinical outcomes and best practices that are essential to growing a successful craniofacial surgery program to serve our patients and their families at Texas Children’s for many years to come.”

Weiner’s plan is to continue transforming Texas Children’s into the premier pediatric neurosurgical program in the country by providing innovative, high-quality patient care and focusing on multidisciplinary collaboration and teamwork. While overseeing the growth of Texas Children’s neurosurgery program, he is cultivating a rich environment for faculty members to develop their subspecialty interest and propel their clinical and scientific discoveries to the next level.

“We are well on our way as a division of neurosurgery and as an institution to be the destination for high-quality, world-class innovative and especially attentive care for children,” Weiner said. “That is really my vision for neurosurgery. We will be the leaders in training the next generation of leaders in our field.”

Ranked No. 2 nationally in neurology and neurosurgery by U.S. News & World Report, Texas Children’s neurosurgery program is among the largest and most experienced pediatric neurosurgery units in the U.S., performing more than 950 surgeries annually for a broad range of pediatric neurosurgical disorders.

For more information about Texas Children’s neurosurgery program, click here.