Dr. Thomas Luerssen has been given the 2016 Franc D. Ingraham Award for Distinguished Service and Achievement by the American Association of Neurological Surgeons/CNS Section of Pediatric Neurological Surgery. The award is the highest honor given by the organization and recognizes individuals whose achievements have advanced the field of pediatric neurosurgery. This is only the ninth time the award has been given since its inception in 1988.
Dr. Luerssen is chief quality officer for surgery and a neurosurgeon at Texas Children’s Hospital and a professor of neurosurgery at the Baylor College of Medicine. He is also the former chief of neurosurgery at Texas Children’s.
“It is a true honor for me to follow the great legacy of Dr. Tom Luerssen who has built an incredibly strong neurosurgery service at Texas Children’s,” said Dr. Howard Weiner, chief of Neurosurgery at Texas Children’s.
After graduating many outstanding pediatric neurosurgery fellows over the last decade, as well as recruiting a truly excellent core team of pediatric neurosurgeons here, Luerssen has been recognized for his many leadership roles in pediatric neurosurgery over the course of his career. Among those roles are chairman of the AANS/CNS Section on Pediatric Neurological Surgery and president of the American Society of Pediatric Neurosurgeons. He also spent 18 years on practicing at Indiana University and 11 years at Texas Children’s. These accomplishments are in addition to his many contributions to the fields of neurotrauma, quality improvement and patient safety in pediatric neurosurgery.
Dr. Charles D. Fraser, Jr., surgeon-in-chief at Texas Children’s said, “We are very proud of Dr. Luerssen’s accomplishments and are extremely fortunate to have him as part of the legacy of Texas Children’s Department of Surgery.”