On the heels of returning from São Paulo, Brazil to train Dr. Giselle in the Warf method (ETV/CPC), we are excited to announce NeuroKids’ newest partner, Dr. Anas Said and Al Basheer Hospital in Jordan. Dr. Said is a pediatric neurosurgeon in Amman, where he graduated from medical school at Jordan University of Science and Technology in 2008. After that he joined the Jordanian Armed Forces as lieutenant doctor and started his neurosurgery residency training at the Royal Medical Services. During his residency period, he was a visiting researcher at Saint Louis Neurosurgery Department. In 2016, he obtained the Jordanian Board of Neurosurgery and then went to the US for a pediatric neurosurgery fellowship at Children’s Hospital Colorado. Dr. Said returned to Jordan in 2018 and joined Al Basheer Public Hospital, the largest governmental hospital in Jordan. Around the region, Al Basheer has the reputation for serving the most vulnerable people, including children and refugees. At Al Basheer Hospital, Dr. Said started the first multidisciplinary clinic for pediatric spasticity and, in 2019, introduced, for the first time in Jordan, selective dorsal rhizotomy surgery.
Dr. Said believes in teamwork and collaboration. His mission is to provide the very best care for his patients, to share his knowledge and experience with his colleagues and to advance neurosurgical care for the people of Jordan. In addition to the ~1,000 or so babies that are affected by hydrocephalus every year in Jordan, many more cross the border from neighboring countries, especially places in conflict, like Iraq and Syria. We believe Dr. Said and his team at Al Bashir are positioned to bring accessible and quality care and treatment to thousands of children from families in the Middle East suffering from hydrocephalus and spina bifida.
At the same time, Dr. Benjamin Warf and the NeuroKids board is honored that Samer K. Elbabaa, MD, FAAP, FAANS, FACS has joined our team of mentors and will be training Dr. Said next June. Dr. Elbabaa, a Jordanian-American, is the Chief of Pediatric Neurosurgery and the Director of Leon Pediatric Neuroscience Center of Excellence at Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children in Orlando, Florida. He serves as Professor of Neurosurgery at the University of Central Florida (UCF) College of Medicine. Dr. Elbabaa is board certified by the American Board of Neurological Surgery (ABNS) and the American Board of Pediatric Neurological Surgery (ABPNS). His areas of expertise include micro-neurosurgical treatment of pediatric brain tumors, skull base tumors, cerebrovascular malformations and spinal cord tumors. His areas of interest also include neuro-endoscopic management of hydrocephalus and brain tumors, pediatric craniofacial surgery, epilepsy surgery, cranio-cervical junctional anomalies and fetal in-utero neurosurgery.
Dr. Elbabaa is considered one of the most experienced fetal in-utero spina bifida neurosurgeons in the world. A world-renowned pediatric neurosurgeon and an accomplished researcher, Dr. Elbabaa frequently serves as a visiting professor, guest lecturer and conference speaker worldwide. He serves as Section Editor for Pediatric Neurosurgery and Hydrocephalus in the World Neurosurgery Journal.
Dr. Elbabaa completed his residency in neurological surgery at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and clinical fellowship in pediatric neurosurgery at The Cleveland Clinic. He is a fellow of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons and of the American College of Surgeons, and he is a member of Congress of Neurological Surgeons and the International Society of Pediatric Neurosurgeons. He also serves on numerous committees and executive boards for national and international professional neurosurgical organizations. He currently serves on the executive board of the International Federation of Neuroendoscopy (IFNE) and, most recently, served as Chairman of the 2019 IFNE World Congress of Neuroendoscopy in Orlando, Florida.
We are thrilled to have Dr. Elbabaa serve as a NeuroKids mentor, supporting other neurosurgeons around the world as they care for children with hydrocephalus and spina bifida.