June 12, 2025 • 21 mins
Dr. Howard Weiner, Chief of Neurosurgery at Texas Children's Hospital, joins the podcast to discuss exciting advancements in neurosurgical technology, including the growing use of minimally invasive approaches. He shares recent breakthroughs in treatment and care delivery for pediatric patients and offers valuable advice for current and emerging leaders in the healthcare space.
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(00:00):
This is Laura Deirdo with the Veterans Healthcare
podcast. I'm thrilled today to be joined by
doctor Howard Weiner, chief of neurosurgery at Texas
Children's Hospital. Doctor Weiner, it's a pleasure to
have you on the podcast today.
Thank you so much. It's a pleasure.
Now I'm excited to have you on because
I know you've done some really transformational things
in Texas Children's, and and certainly, we'll be
excited to hear your perspective on some of
(00:21):
the, you know, things that are ahead as
well. But before we dive in, I'm curious.
Can you introduce yourself and tell us a
little bit more about Texas Children's Hospital?
Sure. So my name is Howard Weiner. I
am a pediatric neurosurgeon.
I am from New York originally, but moved
down here,
just over nine years ago to Texas Children's
(00:41):
Hospital, which is, you know, the pediatric hospital
affiliated with Baylor College of Medicine in Houston
Houston, Texas.
And I can say that,
a lot of great things about Texas Children's.
You know, when I came down here to
interview in 02/2015,
I was kind of blown away,
by the scale of it,
but also,
you know, sort of the people. So even
(01:03):
though physically, it's, you know, the largest children's
hospital in The United States and we have
the most beds in the biggest ICU and
the biggest neonatal
ICU,
really, the people here are very special. And,
everyone here is very committed to
providing the best care for our children and
our families and doing it with a smile,
(01:24):
and with hospitality. And, you know, obviously, quality
and safety
and innovation
are all part of the very fabric here,
but I think that that, you know, that
that,
sort of southern hospitality, if you will,
is really, really important as well.
It's it's sort of a growth mindset here.
We're growing.
(01:44):
People keep moving to Texas, and we're here
to accommodate them. So I think it's a
very special place. And in neurosurgery, it's been
particularly fun because we've managed to recruit, I
think, some all stars and, building special programs
within neurosurgery that has been a real joy
for me
personally, and, I think our patients have benefited.
(02:06):
That's amazing to hear. And, you know, really,
really cool that you've got not only the
mission of being able to provide great patient
care, quality, and safety, but also looking at
innovation and having that patient experience front and
center for both the children and their families.
Now I'm curious. What are some of the
trends that you're watching currently?
You know, I think that, technology
(02:27):
and, the introduction of technology
has been really important in neurosurgery.
So over the last number of years
in a lot of the programs, we've seen
a move towards
what we call minimally invasive approaches.
So for example, we have a very large
program
treating children with epilepsy, you know, epileptic seizures.
(02:49):
And these are children who may be
suffering from repeated epileptic seizures, you know, in
their lifetime that's affecting their ability to learn,
to develop, to go to school, and they're
on medications that may have side effects to
control their seizures. And despite being on medications,
the seizures
are not controlled. And,
(03:09):
we can actually
evaluate them with a number of modalities,
including,
imaging, MRI,
and special,
neurophysiologic
studies to understand where the seizures are starting
in the brain so we can localize where
the seizures are starting and we can target
that area.
And more recently,
probably over the last ten years or so,
(03:30):
we've gone to an approach that is,
less invasive.
So we can actually study the brain,
in a way that's safer, that has a
shorter hospital stay, and we can actually treat
the focus within the brain
with, a laser. You know? So, we can
actually heat the lesion
and,
(03:51):
treat it that way and,
affect the seizures,
positively,
without ever having to open the skull.
So that's been a huge move and and
and something that we've incorporated into our armamentarium,
for epilepsy surgery. Similarly,
we have a big program in fetal surgery.
So these are,
(04:11):
neurologic conditions that are detected in utero
with, very sophisticated imaging techniques. And one great
example is spina bifida,
which is a birth defect where children are
born with,
a loss of skin covering in the lower
back where the spinal cord and the nerves
are actually exposed to the outside world. And
(04:33):
we have to, address that very quickly after
birth and close the defect and reconstitute,
the back
and, help the nerves,
safely and and,
protect them. And one of my colleagues is
actually doing the surgery
in utero. So,
they're doing it in in women who are
(04:55):
already,
well on their way in pregnancy, and the
fetus has been found to have,
a spina bifida,
defect. And they go in minimally invasively with
a, fetoscope,
sort of like you would do, arthroscopic
surgery on your knee with a small
scope, and they actually repair
(05:17):
the spina bifida in utero.
And then the child is, delivered at at
its regular time, and this has been shown
to improve both neurologic function and lower the
risk of some of the other, sequelae of
of spina bifida such as hydrocephalus.
So those are examples of, you know, minimally
invasive approaches.
We have
(05:38):
new technology
such as focus ultrasound, which is a completely
noninvasive
way to target,
problems in the brain,
such as epilepsy,
and to help open up the blood brain
barrier in patients with tumors.
And, we're also, now in several clinical trials
(05:59):
utilizing gene therapy. So these are some of
the more cutting edge things that we're doing.
And on top of that, we're doing conventional
neurosurgery,
which
is really,
significant for the vast majority of our patients
in providing the very best technical
neurosurgery in the Operating Room for complex brain
tumors, complex spine problems,
(06:22):
craniofacial
problems, vascular problems,
congenital problems. I mean, you name it.
My goal was,
putting together a team of, you know, really
outstanding
technical surgeons who are also wonderful human beings
and and allowing,
allowing them to just really change neurosurgery for
the better.
That's really amazing to hear. And, you know,
(06:44):
definitely impressive to understand what technology is allowing,
surgeons and physicians to do right now,
especially as you were talking through with some
of the big,
neurological
and spine issues, which is really cool to
hear that out. And then as you mentioned,
you know, being able to build a team
of great surgeons as well as great people.
How do you do that? How do you
identify the folks that are really gonna fit
(07:04):
in well and keep that culture liable also
being, you know, extremely, extremely talented on the
clinical side?
You know, I think it's a great question.
It's something that,
you know, is is a work in progress.
But I think that for me, I'm a
people person, and, I like to connect with
people. So for me, that's the easy part.
We've hired so we, you know, we have
(07:26):
10 of us here,
10 neurosurgeons
on our team, eight in Houston and two
in Austin where we have a freestanding new
hospital that, was built about a year ago,
Texas Children's in in Austin.
So,
one of the one of the benefits is
we have a post residency
accredited fellowship program. So if you wanna be
(07:47):
a pediatric neurosurgeon in the real world, you
go to four years of college, four years
of medical school, seven years of neurosurgical
residency training, and then you
have to complete an accredited
post residency fellowship,
that, they're about 30 or so, 32 in
the country. And we have an excellent fellowship
(08:08):
where someone who's completed a residency will spend
an extra year with us. And,
that's a wonderful opportunity to see
the skills and the humanity
of, young surgeons, and we've managed to hire
three of our fellows,
over the last nine years who have been
major contributors to, you know, the success and
(08:28):
the growth of our program. So I think
that's the best way to really identify. In
other ways,
you know,
someone's CV is important, but it's not the
only thing. We're looking for, you know, someone
who, you know, goes above and beyond both
as a human being and also as a
technical,
you know, neurosurgeon
in the operating room and in the hospital.
(08:50):
So,
you know, I think that, I've been fortunate
to
to
to manage to find
really special people that,
you know, work well together. And I think
another thing that separates our team and one
of the one of the,
character traits that I look for,
(09:10):
in people is are they are they givers
or are they takers? I think it's a
very simplistic but very helpful way for for
me to understand,
human character traits. And and I think everybody
in our team is very generous and willing
to contribute. And,
as opposed to looking after what's in their
own best interest,
(09:31):
they kind of ignore what's in their best
interest,
for the sake of the patient and for
the sake of the team.
That's amazing to hear. You know what I
I love that. It really speaks volumes in
terms of, you know, the type of team
you've been able to build and the people
who can really make a meaningful impact. Now
I'm curious. Looking ahead, what are you most
focused on and excited about?
(09:52):
You know, I think that,
obviously, technology is really important. I think that
we'll see a lot more, you know, obviously,
with, AI,
and
virtual reality,
in the operating room. I think that, you
know, technology will continue to refine
and elevate, you know, both what we do
(10:14):
as surgeons
and also the patient experience.
You know, I was, visiting a place,
where, you know, you walk in the door
and already there's an analysis of your gait,
that is already,
you know, put into your chart. And so
a lot of information can be collected
(10:35):
in this way that will really help us.
Obviously,
I think cancer genetics is a very, very
exciting area. We have
the amazing doctor Michael Taylor who came from
University of Toronto and Toronto sick chill hospital
for sick children a few years ago and
joined our team, and he's a leading,
brain tumor researcher. And we're gonna see a
(10:56):
lot of advances,
in terms of the molecular understanding
of pediatric brain tumors that will be translated
into actual treatments. I mean, that's already happened,
but it's gonna be, accelerated,
greatly
over the next several years.
I think that,
you know, we talked about the, minimally invasive
(11:18):
techniques. One of the exciting things in epilepsy
surgery
is
the ability
rather than to target and and,
ablate or remove
a seizure focus from within the brain, we
can now
modulate brain activity. It's called neuromodulation
and place certain,
devices into the brain that will stimulate and
(11:40):
override, seizure activity in the brain and affect
other types of behaviors that
brain
and affect other types of behaviors. This is
being looked at in
other neurologic conditions like autism
and movement disorders. So I think we're gonna
see a lot more of these kind of,
neuromodulation
approaches.
So these are some of the things that,
you know, are very, very exciting. I think
(12:02):
we wanna be able to provide access to
all of our patients. I mean, many of
our patients travel from outside of Texas, outside
of Houston for care, but we wanna be
able to provide care for our local community.
And so that's also a big focus here
at Texas Children's is enhancing access
to care. I mean, I can't tell you
how many times I speak to friends or
family members,
(12:23):
all over the country who have difficulty,
getting in to see their neurologist or their
primary care doctor. And, you know, that always,
is very painful to hear because,
we wanna make sure everybody's seen, in a
timely fashion and and, you know, very, you
know, appropriate way.
Absolutely. And I know that access is so
(12:44):
critical, and a big challenge for many hospitals,
children's and otherwise, across the country.
Can you tell us about a product or
initiative or anything really that you're most proud
of in the last six to eighteen months
or so?
One of the things that I'm working on,
which is more on the research side that's
very, very exciting,
(13:05):
is in our children who are coming in
for epilepsy surgery,
Oftentimes, as I mentioned,
to really understand where the seizures are arising
from so we can target and treat these
children,
they undergo a procedure
where we place
electrodes in the brain to really record
(13:26):
in vivo directly
in these, children, the seizure activity.
And
these children
this is great. These children are in the
hospital with these electrodes implanted,
and every day continuously in conjunction with our
neurology colleagues, we're recording
the activity of their brains.
(13:46):
This has provided a unique
window
to understand how the brain works
in these young children.
It's separate from
imaging and radiology,
but these kids are sitting there. And,
I have had the very
honor and good pleasure of working with doctor
Liberty Hamilton, who's a
(14:07):
scientist at the University of Texas in Austin,
collaboratively.
And
under doctor Hamilton's studies,
these kids are now
being
studied
in the downtime that they have. While they're
being recorded, while their seizure activity is being
monitored,
they undergo,
(14:28):
testing simultaneously
where they to understand how their speech and
language and auditory system, their hearing system develops,
and and really to understand
how that
is affected in children with certain neurologic conditions
that have caused epilepsy
and how it changes over time. And this
is extremely
(14:49):
difficult to do,
for the most part in children, but we've
been able to do it successfully and with
great
care and consideration of the child and the
family.
Doctor Hamilton has arranged a a setup where
the children watch videos or they listen to
certain stories,
and we look at how the brain is
(15:11):
working
in real time
as that is happening. And we can understand,
what normal function is and how this function
is altered
in certain,
conditions. So that's been extremely exciting.
That's one of one of the projects that
I'm very, very proud of.
Another project is, you know, led by one
(15:33):
of my colleagues, doctor Whitehead. He's now the,
a principal investigator of a
multicenter,
cohort of
pediatric neurosurgery centers is called the Hydrocephalus Clinical
Research Network or HCRN. And doctor Whitehead
assume the role of
the lead,
(15:54):
investigator of that whole group.
There are many, many centers, and we are
trying to
that group rather is trying to,
optimize
the understanding and the care of children with
a very common condition that we treat called
hydrocephalus.
And,
that is the overproduction
or the difficulty in in, managing,
(16:18):
cerebrospinal
fluid buildup in in childhood. And,
this group has been extremely successful over the
last twenty odd years,
in doing,
you know, funded research
to ask
very important questions about hydrocephalus and its treatment.
And so that work
is really accelerating, and doctor Whitehead is leading
(16:40):
leading that work here at Texas Children's.
So these are some of the exciting things,
that are going on. One of my colleagues,
Guillermo Aldave,
has developed,
a center here
with one of our otolaryngology
colleagues, Doctor. Umurama Ramaswamy,
for pediatric
complex skull based tumors, and they were the
(17:02):
pediatric center to be accredited by the North
American Skull Based Society as a center of
excellence. And they are seeing
children who come in with very complicated tumors
at the base of the skull and the
upper spine. And they're using minimally invasive techniques
going basically through the nose to remove some
of these difficult tumors. And that's that initiative
(17:23):
is also,
in the last couple of years. So I
think these are some of the exciting things.
I think every day we we see something
new and exciting, but these are some of
the highlights.
That's amazing to hear. And really, truly,
just seems like so much innovation is happening
in the clinical space and being able to,
treat those patients that maybe wouldn't be able
(17:45):
to have access to treatment otherwise.
It just makes Texas Children's so special.
Before we wrap up here, I wanted to
ask you about leadership as well. What advice
would you give evolving leaders in the space
today?
That's a great question. I think everybody's different.
I think for me, leadership is about
modeling, you know, this principle that I talked
(18:07):
about is which is really,
the principle of hospitality and really caring about
how people around me feel and making them
feel and letting them know
that I'm on their side, that I have
their back.
I try to model, you know, several things.
of all, that,
you know, as a leader,
it's never about me.
(18:28):
The goal is always to enhance,
the team's performance
and,
recognize that everyone is, special and unique
and to,
give everybody in the team a sense of
their individual
why. You know, we we've we've learned,
you know, that, people don't buy what you
do. They buy
(18:49):
why you do it. And
so,
you know, I think that everybody having their
own individual special unique contribution,
to neurosurgery in our example or to whatever,
the team's goal is, I think, is really
important in recognizing and celebrating each individual.
I think that, you know, I tell folks,
(19:11):
to pay attention to the environment. You wanna
sort of marry your,
your passion and your skill set with what
is needed around you.
I think it's very important to think big.
You know, go big or go home. Don't
don't be shy.
You know, I think that,
for me, I try to model a a
(19:32):
balanced life
where I,
cultivate my body and my soul. And I
think, you know, if,
you live a balanced life and your team
sees that and feels that your patients will
feel it, and they'll recognize that you're balanced
and you stand for something more than just
your own self.
I also try to model, you know, focus
(19:53):
on family and friends. I think, you know,
all of these things enhance my ability to
be my best self for my patients and
for my team. And so I try to
I try to model that as well and,
you know, try to build something big. But,
you know, I think it's all about also
being authentic. So I think if you were
to ask anybody on my team,
(20:14):
they would recognize that, you know, I really
do care about them, and,
I try to be,
kind,
warm, down to earth, and courteous. And I
think all of that goes a long way.
It's not,
necessarily always,
what you would read in a book, but
I think it it it certainly helps, particularly
in the,
(20:34):
very stressful environment of pediatric neurosurgery where I
think all of these things,
neurosurgery where I think all of these things,
raise everybody up to a to a different
level.
That's amazing to hear. And, doctor Weidner, thank
you so much for joining us on the
podcast today. This has been such a fascinating
discussion, and we look forward to connecting with
you again soon.
(20:56):
Oh, it was wonderful. Thank you so much.
This is Laura Deirdo with the Veterans Healthcare
podcast. I'm thrilled today to be joined by
doctor Howard Weiner, chief of neurosurgery at Texas
Children's Hospital. Doctor Weiner, it's a pleasure to
have you on the podcast today.
Thank you so much. It's a pleasure.
Now I'm excited to have you on because
I know you've done some really transformational things
in Texas Children's, and and certainly, we'll be
excited to hear your perspective on some of
(00:21):
the, you know, things that are ahead as
well. But before we dive in, I'm curious.
Can you introduce yourself and tell us a
little bit more about Texas Children's Hospital?
Sure. So my name is Howard Weiner. I
am a pediatric neurosurgeon.
I am from New York originally, but moved
down here,
just over nine years ago to Texas Children's
(00:41):
Hospital, which is, you know, the pediatric hospital
affiliated with Baylor College of Medicine in Houston
Houston, Texas.
And I can say that,
a lot of great things about Texas Children's.
You know, when I came down here to
interview in 02/2015,
I was kind of blown away,
by the scale of it,
but also,
you know, sort of the people. So even
(01:03):
though physically, it's, you know, the largest children's
hospital in The United States and we have
the most beds in the biggest ICU and
the biggest neonatal
ICU,
really, the people here are very special. And,
everyone here is very committed to
providing the best care for our children and
our families and doing it with a smile,
(01:24):
and with hospitality. And, you know, obviously, quality
and safety
and innovation
are all part of the very fabric here,
but I think that that, you know, that
that,
sort of southern hospitality, if you will,
is really, really important as well.
It's it's sort of a growth mindset here.
We're growing.
(01:44):
People keep moving to Texas, and we're here
to accommodate them. So I think it's a
very special place. And in neurosurgery, it's been
particularly fun because we've managed to recruit, I
think, some all stars and, building special programs
within neurosurgery that has been a real joy
for me
personally, and, I think our patients have benefited.
(02:06):
That's amazing to hear. And, you know, really,
really cool that you've got not only the
mission of being able to provide great patient
care, quality, and safety, but also looking at
innovation and having that patient experience front and
center for both the children and their families.
Now I'm curious. What are some of the
trends that you're watching currently?
You know, I think that, technology
(02:27):
and, the introduction of technology
has been really important in neurosurgery.
So over the last number of years
in a lot of the programs, we've seen
a move towards
what we call minimally invasive approaches.
So for example, we have a very large
program
treating children with epilepsy, you know, epileptic seizures.
(02:49):
And these are children who may be
suffering from repeated epileptic seizures, you know, in
their lifetime that's affecting their ability to learn,
to develop, to go to school, and they're
on medications that may have side effects to
control their seizures. And despite being on medications,
the seizures
are not controlled. And,
(03:09):
we can actually
evaluate them with a number of modalities,
including,
imaging, MRI,
and special,
neurophysiologic
studies to understand where the seizures are starting
in the brain so we can localize where
the seizures are starting and we can target
that area.
And more recently,
probably over the last ten years or so,
(03:30):
we've gone to an approach that is,
less invasive.
So we can actually study the brain,
in a way that's safer, that has a
shorter hospital stay, and we can actually treat
the focus within the brain
with, a laser. You know? So, we can
actually heat the lesion
and,
(03:51):
treat it that way and,
affect the seizures,
positively,
without ever having to open the skull.
So that's been a huge move and and
and something that we've incorporated into our armamentarium,
for epilepsy surgery. Similarly,
we have a big program in fetal surgery.
So these are,
(04:11):
neurologic conditions that are detected in utero
with, very sophisticated imaging techniques. And one great
example is spina bifida,
which is a birth defect where children are
born with,
a loss of skin covering in the lower
back where the spinal cord and the nerves
are actually exposed to the outside world. And
(04:33):
we have to, address that very quickly after
birth and close the defect and reconstitute,
the back
and, help the nerves,
safely and and,
protect them. And one of my colleagues is
actually doing the surgery
in utero. So,
they're doing it in in women who are
(04:55):
already,
well on their way in pregnancy, and the
fetus has been found to have,
a spina bifida,
defect. And they go in minimally invasively with
a, fetoscope,
sort of like you would do, arthroscopic
surgery on your knee with a small
scope, and they actually repair
(05:17):
the spina bifida in utero.
And then the child is, delivered at at
its regular time, and this has been shown
to improve both neurologic function and lower the
risk of some of the other, sequelae of
of spina bifida such as hydrocephalus.
So those are examples of, you know, minimally
invasive approaches.
We have
(05:38):
new technology
such as focus ultrasound, which is a completely
noninvasive
way to target,
problems in the brain,
such as epilepsy,
and to help open up the blood brain
barrier in patients with tumors.
And, we're also, now in several clinical trials
(05:59):
utilizing gene therapy. So these are some of
the more cutting edge things that we're doing.
And on top of that, we're doing conventional
neurosurgery,
which
is really,
significant for the vast majority of our patients
in providing the very best technical
neurosurgery in the Operating Room for complex brain
tumors, complex spine problems,
(06:22):
craniofacial
problems, vascular problems,
congenital problems. I mean, you name it.
My goal was,
putting together a team of, you know, really
outstanding
technical surgeons who are also wonderful human beings
and and allowing,
allowing them to just really change neurosurgery for
the better.
That's really amazing to hear. And, you know,
(06:44):
definitely impressive to understand what technology is allowing,
surgeons and physicians to do right now,
especially as you were talking through with some
of the big,
neurological
and spine issues, which is really cool to
hear that out. And then as you mentioned,
you know, being able to build a team
of great surgeons as well as great people.
How do you do that? How do you
identify the folks that are really gonna fit
(07:04):
in well and keep that culture liable also
being, you know, extremely, extremely talented on the
clinical side?
You know, I think it's a great question.
It's something that,
you know, is is a work in progress.
But I think that for me, I'm a
people person, and, I like to connect with
people. So for me, that's the easy part.
We've hired so we, you know, we have
(07:26):
10 of us here,
10 neurosurgeons
on our team, eight in Houston and two
in Austin where we have a freestanding new
hospital that, was built about a year ago,
Texas Children's in in Austin.
So,
one of the one of the benefits is
we have a post residency
accredited fellowship program. So if you wanna be
(07:47):
a pediatric neurosurgeon in the real world, you
go to four years of college, four years
of medical school, seven years of neurosurgical
residency training, and then you
have to complete an accredited
post residency fellowship,
that, they're about 30 or so, 32 in
the country. And we have an excellent fellowship
(08:08):
where someone who's completed a residency will spend
an extra year with us. And,
that's a wonderful opportunity to see
the skills and the humanity
of, young surgeons, and we've managed to hire
three of our fellows,
over the last nine years who have been
major contributors to, you know, the success and
(08:28):
the growth of our program. So I think
that's the best way to really identify. In
other ways,
you know,
someone's CV is important, but it's not the
only thing. We're looking for, you know, someone
who, you know, goes above and beyond both
as a human being and also as a
technical,
you know, neurosurgeon
in the operating room and in the hospital.
(08:50):
So,
you know, I think that, I've been fortunate
to
to
to manage to find
really special people that,
you know, work well together. And I think
another thing that separates our team and one
of the one of the,
character traits that I look for,
(09:10):
in people is are they are they givers
or are they takers? I think it's a
very simplistic but very helpful way for for
me to understand,
human character traits. And and I think everybody
in our team is very generous and willing
to contribute. And,
as opposed to looking after what's in their
own best interest,
(09:31):
they kind of ignore what's in their best
interest,
for the sake of the patient and for
the sake of the team.
That's amazing to hear. You know what I
I love that. It really speaks volumes in
terms of, you know, the type of team
you've been able to build and the people
who can really make a meaningful impact. Now
I'm curious. Looking ahead, what are you most
focused on and excited about?
(09:52):
You know, I think that,
obviously, technology is really important. I think that
we'll see a lot more, you know, obviously,
with, AI,
and
virtual reality,
in the operating room. I think that, you
know, technology will continue to refine
and elevate, you know, both what we do
(10:14):
as surgeons
and also the patient experience.
You know, I was, visiting a place,
where, you know, you walk in the door
and already there's an analysis of your gait,
that is already,
you know, put into your chart. And so
a lot of information can be collected
(10:35):
in this way that will really help us.
Obviously,
I think cancer genetics is a very, very
exciting area. We have
the amazing doctor Michael Taylor who came from
University of Toronto and Toronto sick chill hospital
for sick children a few years ago and
joined our team, and he's a leading,
brain tumor researcher. And we're gonna see a
(10:56):
lot of advances,
in terms of the molecular understanding
of pediatric brain tumors that will be translated
into actual treatments. I mean, that's already happened,
but it's gonna be, accelerated,
greatly
over the next several years.
I think that,
you know, we talked about the, minimally invasive
(11:18):
techniques. One of the exciting things in epilepsy
surgery
is
the ability
rather than to target and and,
ablate or remove
a seizure focus from within the brain, we
can now
modulate brain activity. It's called neuromodulation
and place certain,
devices into the brain that will stimulate and
(11:40):
override, seizure activity in the brain and affect
other types of behaviors that
brain
and affect other types of behaviors. This is
being looked at in
other neurologic conditions like autism
and movement disorders. So I think we're gonna
see a lot more of these kind of,
neuromodulation
approaches.
So these are some of the things that,
you know, are very, very exciting. I think
(12:02):
we wanna be able to provide access to
all of our patients. I mean, many of
our patients travel from outside of Texas, outside
of Houston for care, but we wanna be
able to provide care for our local community.
And so that's also a big focus here
at Texas Children's is enhancing access
to care. I mean, I can't tell you
how many times I speak to friends or
family members,
(12:23):
all over the country who have difficulty,
getting in to see their neurologist or their
primary care doctor. And, you know, that always,
is very painful to hear because,
we wanna make sure everybody's seen, in a
timely fashion and and, you know, very, you
know, appropriate way.
Absolutely. And I know that access is so
(12:44):
critical, and a big challenge for many hospitals,
children's and otherwise, across the country.
Can you tell us about a product or
initiative or anything really that you're most proud
of in the last six to eighteen months
or so?
One of the things that I'm working on,
which is more on the research side that's
very, very exciting,
(13:05):
is in our children who are coming in
for epilepsy surgery,
Oftentimes, as I mentioned,
to really understand where the seizures are arising
from so we can target and treat these
children,
they undergo a procedure
where we place
electrodes in the brain to really record
(13:26):
in vivo directly
in these, children, the seizure activity.
And
these children
this is great. These children are in the
hospital with these electrodes implanted,
and every day continuously in conjunction with our
neurology colleagues, we're recording
the activity of their brains.
(13:46):
This has provided a unique
window
to understand how the brain works
in these young children.
It's separate from
imaging and radiology,
but these kids are sitting there. And,
I have had the very
honor and good pleasure of working with doctor
Liberty Hamilton, who's a
(14:07):
scientist at the University of Texas in Austin,
collaboratively.
And
under doctor Hamilton's studies,
these kids are now
being
studied
in the downtime that they have. While they're
being recorded, while their seizure activity is being
monitored,
they undergo,
(14:28):
testing simultaneously
where they to understand how their speech and
language and auditory system, their hearing system develops,
and and really to understand
how that
is affected in children with certain neurologic conditions
that have caused epilepsy
and how it changes over time. And this
is extremely
(14:49):
difficult to do,
for the most part in children, but we've
been able to do it successfully and with
great
care and consideration of the child and the
family.
Doctor Hamilton has arranged a a setup where
the children watch videos or they listen to
certain stories,
and we look at how the brain is
(15:11):
working
in real time
as that is happening. And we can understand,
what normal function is and how this function
is altered
in certain,
conditions. So that's been extremely exciting.
That's one of one of the projects that
I'm very, very proud of.
Another project is, you know, led by one
(15:33):
of my colleagues, doctor Whitehead. He's now the,
a principal investigator of a
multicenter,
cohort of
pediatric neurosurgery centers is called the Hydrocephalus Clinical
Research Network or HCRN. And doctor Whitehead
assume the role of
the lead,
(15:54):
investigator of that whole group.
There are many, many centers, and we are
trying to
that group rather is trying to,
optimize
the understanding and the care of children with
a very common condition that we treat called
hydrocephalus.
And,
that is the overproduction
or the difficulty in in, managing,
(16:18):
cerebrospinal
fluid buildup in in childhood. And,
this group has been extremely successful over the
last twenty odd years,
in doing,
you know, funded research
to ask
very important questions about hydrocephalus and its treatment.
And so that work
is really accelerating, and doctor Whitehead is leading
(16:40):
leading that work here at Texas Children's.
So these are some of the exciting things,
that are going on. One of my colleagues,
Guillermo Aldave,
has developed,
a center here
with one of our otolaryngology
colleagues, Doctor. Umurama Ramaswamy,
for pediatric
complex skull based tumors, and they were the
(17:02):
pediatric center to be accredited by the North
American Skull Based Society as a center of
excellence. And they are seeing
children who come in with very complicated tumors
at the base of the skull and the
upper spine. And they're using minimally invasive techniques
going basically through the nose to remove some
of these difficult tumors. And that's that initiative
(17:23):
is also,
in the last couple of years. So I
think these are some of the exciting things.
I think every day we we see something
new and exciting, but these are some of
the highlights.
That's amazing to hear. And really, truly,
just seems like so much innovation is happening
in the clinical space and being able to,
treat those patients that maybe wouldn't be able
(17:45):
to have access to treatment otherwise.
It just makes Texas Children's so special.
Before we wrap up here, I wanted to
ask you about leadership as well. What advice
would you give evolving leaders in the space
today?
That's a great question. I think everybody's different.
I think for me, leadership is about
modeling, you know, this principle that I talked
(18:07):
about is which is really,
the principle of hospitality and really caring about
how people around me feel and making them
feel and letting them know
that I'm on their side, that I have
their back.
I try to model, you know, several things.
of all, that,
you know, as a leader,
it's never about me.
(18:28):
The goal is always to enhance,
the team's performance
and,
recognize that everyone is, special and unique
and to,
give everybody in the team a sense of
their individual
why. You know, we we've we've learned,
you know, that, people don't buy what you
do. They buy
(18:49):
why you do it. And
so,
you know, I think that everybody having their
own individual special unique contribution,
to neurosurgery in our example or to whatever,
the team's goal is, I think, is really
important in recognizing and celebrating each individual.
I think that, you know, I tell folks,
(19:11):
to pay attention to the environment. You wanna
sort of marry your,
your passion and your skill set with what
is needed around you.
I think it's very important to think big.
You know, go big or go home. Don't
don't be shy.
You know, I think that,
for me, I try to model a a
(19:32):
balanced life
where I,
cultivate my body and my soul. And I
think, you know, if,
you live a balanced life and your team
sees that and feels that your patients will
feel it, and they'll recognize that you're balanced
and you stand for something more than just
your own self.
I also try to model, you know, focus
(19:53):
on family and friends. I think, you know,
all of these things enhance my ability to
be my best self for my patients and
for my team. And so I try to
I try to model that as well and,
you know, try to build something big. But,
you know, I think it's all about also
being authentic. So I think if you were
to ask anybody on my team,
(20:14):
they would recognize that, you know, I really
do care about them, and,
I try to be,
kind,
warm, down to earth, and courteous. And I
think all of that goes a long way.
It's not,
necessarily always,
what you would read in a book, but
I think it it it certainly helps, particularly
in the,
(20:34):
very stressful environment of pediatric neurosurgery where I
think all of these things,
neurosurgery where I think all of these things,
raise everybody up to a to a different
level.
That's amazing to hear. And, doctor Weidner, thank
you so much for joining us on the
podcast today. This has been such a fascinating
discussion, and we look forward to connecting with
you again soon.
(20:56):
Oh, it was wonderful. Thank you so much.
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