Think Neuro

When patients ask him what he does in brain and pituitary surgeries, Dr. Chester Griffiths tells them that he “opens the curtains for the main event.” Dr. Griffiths is a head and neck surgeon, and it’s his job to get brain surgeons where they need to go. For the minimally invasive brain and pituitary surgery done at PNI, that means creating the pathway through the nose and sinuses and into the base of the brain, so his colleagues can remove tumors without making large holes in the skull. Thanks to Dr. Griffiths’ surgical expertise, many patients are out of the hospital in just two to three days, instead of six or seven, and they feel better, sooner, thereafter. Better yet, creating that corridor is a twofer. It can correct many preexisting breathing problems, including chronic sinus infections. It’s intense work. Dr. Griffiths uses micro-instruments to delve deep inside the head. He peers through tiny cameras to avoid crucial nerves and listens with highly sensitive ultrasound microphones for the sound of life-giving arteries that must not be touched. Once the tumor comes into view, he assists his neurosurgical colleagues in removing the disease. Then, Dr. Griffiths guides them out again. He is a pathfinder in a tiny, hidden, and critical land, and he loves leading his colleagues to where their work is required.

For more information:

pacificneuro.org | (310) 582-7640

Dr. Heinzerling is the Director, Pacific Treatment & Research In Psychedelics Program; Internal Medicine – Addiction Medicine, Brain Health Center. He practices internal medicine and is an addiction medicine specialist at the Pacific Brain Health Center, Pacific Neuroscience Institute. His research and clinical focuses are on the discovery, development, and dissemination of anti-addiction medications. He is the director of the Pacific Treatment & Research In Psychedelics (TRIP) Program.

For more information:

https://www.pacificneuroscienceinstitute.org/about-us/our-team/ | (310) 829-8265

Kian Karimi, MD, FACS, is a double-board certified facial plastic surgeon/head and neck surgeon at the Pacific Eye, Ear & Skull Base Center at Pacific Neuroscience Institute. He has a particular interest in rhinoplasty, minimally invasive facial rejuvenation, and ethics. At Pacific Neuroscience Institute, Providence Saint John’s Health Center, Dr. Karimi specializes in surgical treatments of nasal airway obstruction, sinus disease, skin cancer reconstruction, and endonasal endoscopic removal of pituitary tumors.

Originally from Indiana, Dr. Karimi graduated top of his class at Indiana University School of Medicine. He completed his head and neck surgery residency at the University of Florida, and fellowship in facial plastic surgery at the University of Toronto. Dr. Karimi has a strong commitment to training physicians and aesthetic professionals in the latest, minimally invasive facial aesthetics techniques.

He is a nationally recognized educator and is featured regularly

in shows such as EXTRA!, and he is a recurring guest on CBS 'The Doctors'.

For more information:

https://www.pacificneuroscienceinstitute.org/about-us/our-team/ | (310) 829-8265

Santosh Kesari, MD, Ph.D., is a world-renowned neuro-oncologist at Pacific Neuroscience Institute in Santa Monica, CA. He treats patients with brain tumors including glioblastoma, glioma, meningioma, metastatic brain tumors, chordoma, and many more difficult brain cancers.

He believes that in order to cure patients with brain tumors we first need to gain a better molecular and biological understanding of the disease. A physician/scientist, Kesari harnesses his experience in surgery, chemotherapy, immunotherapy, radiation therapy, and novel devices to help develop Precision Therapeutic Strategies that will advance medicine to a new stage in the battle against brain tumors and eradicate the disease.

For more information:

https://www.pacificneuroscienceinstitute.org/about-us/our-team/ | (310) 829-8265

Dr. Katherine Araque is a board-certified endocrinologist at Pacific Pituitary Disorders Center. As Director of Endocrinology at Pacific Neuroscience Institute, she oversees clinical trials and the clinical care of patients with endocrine conditions. Dr. Araque provides special expertise in clinical and research projects in the diagnosis and treatment of pituitary hormone deficiency in adults, Cushing’s disease, prolactinomas, acromegaly, sellar masses and other pituitary tumors. She is a member of the pituitary and endocrinology society.

Visit Dr. Araque's profile: https://www.pacificneuroscienceinstitute.org/people/katherine-araque/

For more information:

pacificneuro.org | pacificbraintumor.org | (310) 829-8265

Exercise doesn’t just give you bigger muscles. It gives you a bigger brain. Scientists have measured brain volume in people who exercise and those who don’t. The exercisers had more. Why? Because movement challenges our minds. It keeps us sharp, especially as we age. And different activities strengthen different parts of our grey matter. Just like a healthy diet, a healthy exercise regimen is varied: some strength training, some resistance training, some aerobics. Don’t worry, you don’t have to work a Sudoku puzzle on an exercise bike to get the maximum benefit. Ryan Glatt, PNI’s Brain Health Coach, is a big fan of dance because it challenges cognition. It’s also how Ryan first got fit himself. A pudgy kid and avid video gamer, things completely changed when he discovered Dance Dance Revolution, a video game that made him move. Now, he’s an advocate for exercise. He gets a workout just talking about it. Give him a listen, and you’ll want to get up and dance, we promise

For more information:

pacificneuro.org | pacificbraintumor.org | (310) 829-8265

Dr. Daniel Kelly, a board certified neurosurgeon, is Director of the Pacific Neuroscience Institute and Professor of Neurosurgery at the John Wayne Cancer Institute. Considered to be one of the best neurosurgeons in the US and a multiple recipients of the Patients' Choice Award, Dr. Kelly is internationally recognized in the field of minimally invasive keyhole surgery for brain, pituitary, and skull base tumors. He has one of the world's largest series in endonasal surgery with over 2000 procedures performed including over 800 endonasal endoscopic surgeries, and over 2000 craniotomies for brain and skull base tumors. His current surgical practice encompasses the full spectrum of brain and skull base tumors, both benign and malignant, treated with minimally invasive and conventional approaches.

For more information:

pacificneuro.org | pacificbraintumor.org | (310) 829-8265

Before he became a surgeon in Santa Monica, Dr. Howard Krauss worked as an aerospace engineer for Hughes Aircraft Company in Long Beach, California. In making the switch, he traded one kind of orbit for another. He came out of earth’s orbit and into the human ones: the two sockets in the skull that hold the eyes and all their accompanying structures. He is one of a few surgical neuro-ophthalmologists on the planet who specializes in surgery within the orbit. He and his colleagues at PNI have pioneered minimally invasive techniques for treating diseases that threaten vision, and for using the orbit as an entry point for removing tumors in the brain. Dr. Krauss works on the forefront of “retinal analysis,” looking for microscopic changes in structures there that signal underlying diseases including Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis, and Parkinson’s disease. New research there, he says, could show that the eye really is a window into the human body and mind.

For more information:

pacificneuro.org | pacificbraintumor.org | (310) 829-8265

A diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease today doesn’t mean the same as it did even just a few years ago. There have been nine new medications for Parkinson’s disease and its related symptoms in the past five years, and we are understanding the importance of lifestyle now more than ever. People with Parkinson’s disease can make lifestyle changes that can slow the disease, and even improve their condition. Chief among them is exercise. Not just hitting the treadmill but doing new things that challenge both the brain and body at the same time. Movement disorders specialist Dr. Melita Petrossian is a big fan of boxing. Not getting in the ring, but working out with gloves and a bag, or with a partner wearing mitts. It’s an energizing dynamic activity that requires work with both the hands and the feet. Don’t care to box? Try dance. It, too, might form new neural connections in the brain and help keep Parkinson’s progression at bay.

For more information:

pacificneuro.org | pacificbraintumor.org | (310) 829-8265

Related Links:

A PNI Minute: Parkinson’s disease and neuroplasticity

APDA (https://www.apdaparkinson.org)