UCSF Neurointerventional Radiology and Neurosurgery Announce New Neuroendovascular Surgery (NES) Partnership

Steven Hetts, MD, FACR, from UCSF Radiology and Adib Abla, MD, from UCSF Neurosurgery have been appointed as co-chiefs for the new NES service line. As co-chiefs, their charge is to build a unified, collaborative, multidisciplinary service for all neuroendovascular procedures at UCSF.

"By reorganizing in this way, we expect that NES will better support education and research, building upon the illustrious traditions of each department. The support teams – administrative staff, advanced practice professionals, technologists, and nurses – from NIR and Vascular Neurosurgery will merge to create a seamless patient care experience," says Christopher Hess, MD, PhD, UCSF Radiology chair.

In addition to the co-chiefs, NES faculty include:

• Matthew Amans, MD
• Daniel Cooke, MD
• Randall Higashida, MD
• Kazim Narsinh, MD
• Luis Savastano, MD, PhD
• Christopher Dowd, MD
• Daniel Raper, MD (San Jose Regional Medical Center)
• Ethan Winkler, MD, PhD (SFVAMC, starting summer 2023)

"The department thanks Dr. Higashida for his 25 years of leadership and stewardship in our world-class NIR section," says Dr. Hess. "Dr. Higashida developed one of the first intracranial stents for aneurysm treatment and UCSF pioneered the use of stents in patients with aneurysms that otherwise could not be treated endovascularly. He is a leading intellect in the ischemic stroke sphere, helping to develop the TICI scale by which success in intracranial revascularization is measured and leading some of the first trials for intra-arterial lytic agents in stroke treatment."

Learn more about the Neuroendovascular Surgery Clinical Section.