Two former prominent neurosurgeons recently died after distinguished careers in medicine:
Spinal neurosurgeon John Collis Jr., MD, died at his home in November at 89 years old. Dr. Collis treated more than 400,000 patients and performed 17,000 surgeries, 5,000 of which were spinal fusions. He held leadership positions including director of spine surgery at Cleveland Clinic and director of neurosurgery at St. Vincent Charity Medical Center and Lutheran Hospital, also in Cleveland. Dr. Collis helped invent several devices, including instruments for total disc replacement, a laminectomy retractor and a table for discography.
James Goodrich, MD, PhD, chief of pediatric neurosurgery at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City., died in March due to complications associated with COVID-19. Dr. Goodrich specialized in the treatment of complex neurological conditions and developed a multi-stage approach for separating craniopagus twins who are joined at the brain and skull. He spent more than 30 years at Montefiore Health System in New York City, where he served as director of the division of pediatric neurosurgery and professor of clinical neurological surgery, pediatrics, plastic and reconstructive surgery at Albert Einstein College of Medicine.