We are committed to advancing global neurosurgery to ensure that every patient, regardless of location, has access to life-saving treatments and expertise. By fostering international collaboration, driving innovation, and supporting education across borders, we aim to improve outcomes and expand access to care worldwide.
In April 2025, we had the privilege of hosting the largest global neurosurgery symposium in Boston, with one clear goal: to improve access to care worldwide. The MGB Global Neurosurgery Symposium brought together over 500 impactful and dynamic leaders from all over the globe, each contributing their expertise to drive the conversation forward.
"Kindness isn't an act, it's a feeling you get when you see a person giving to another person without any expectations. When you see kindness like that, it reverberates, you can't help but spread it, it's what defines us as human beings - it's empathy." - Mohammad A. Aziz-Sultan, MD, MBA
Our speakers challenged us to think beyond the operating room. As Dr. Kee B. Park so powerfully put it, global neurosurgery is not just about performing surgery better, it’s about ensuring that everyone, everywhere, has timely, safe, and affordable access to care. The conversations sparked were a call to action, urging us to reimagine not only how we operate, but who we reach.
Defining Global Neurosurgery: "It is the clinical and public health practice of neurosurgery and there is a purpose behind it, to ensure timely, safe and affordable neurosurgical care to all who need it. What does that mean? It really is asking not only about how do we do surgery better, but should we also be asking the question how do we better deliver neurosurgical care to all who need it? And that's the challenge." - Kee B. Park, MD, MPH
"Often we think globally and apply locally, but we'd like to also propose the opposite, which is that one can experiment locally, and apply globally, and those shared experiences may look different in each one's homes, but we think and believe that there is some inkling and some element that one can learn from each other." - Wenya Linda Bi, MD, PhD
The event concluded with the Boston Declaration, signed by 100+ global health advocates, setting the stage for us to bring care to low- and middle-income communities. This is just the beginning of a larger movement as we have secured commitments from 90 major neurosurgical programs to bring care where it’s needed most. Thank you to all the wonderful leaders from around the glove that joined us for this special moment.
"Wars, poverty, malnutrition...how does that even fit with neurosurgery? How can someone have their aneurysm fixed if they don't have enough food in their belly? How can we talk about it even? this is broken. It doesn't make sense. But here we are, and we're attempting to do it." - Nirav J. Patel, MD
"It's really the together part that I want to highlight. It's the idea that each one of us can scale our impact to a much greater part when we work together, ultimately." - Brian Nahed, MD, MSC, FACS FAANS
A team of neurosurgeons and a neuroanesthesiologist from Mass General Brigham collaborated with Gambian neurosurgeon Dr. John Jabang to perform the first ever pituitary surgery in The Gambia's history. Dr. Jabang, one of only two neurosurgeons in the country, worked alongside Dr. Timothy Smith, Dr. Saksham Gupta, Dr. Ryan Chrenek, and Dr. Hinna Malik from Mass General Brigham to complete five complex pituitary and skull base surgeries. Their goal is to establish a sustainable practice for these procedures in The Gambia.
In addition to the surgeries, the MGB team donated over $20,000 worth of disposable supplies and drill sets to help Dr. Jabang enhance his capacity to perform future cases in The Gambia. Dr. Chrenek and Dr. Gupta also provided training to local medical students and resident trainees during the operations and through standalone lectures. Dr. Malik played a key role in teaching advanced techniques for maintaining hemodynamic stability during these large operations.
During their visit, the team also met with the U.S. Ambassador to The Gambia to discuss bilateral issues and how their partnership aligns with broader U.S. diplomacy initiatives in the region. Organized by Dr. Gupta and Dr. Jabang, the Mass General Brigham team aims to build of one of the continent's strongest neurosurgery centers and establish the first neurosurgery training program in The Gambia. This partnership was generously supported by Janet Thompson from Project CURE, Jay Dulka from Stryker, the Mass General Brigham Department of Neurosurgery, and the Brigham and Women’s Hospital Central Processing Department.
The Mass General Brigham team is looking forward to returning to The Gambia in June 2025 to continue the incredible work brought out by this partnership.
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