Dr. Isaam A. Awad, a surgeon who specializes in vascular malformations of the brain, has been named the Nixdorff-German Professor of Neurosurgery by vote of the Yale Corporation.
Awad joined the faculty at the School of Medicine in 1993 as head of the neurovascular surgery program and codirector of the Yale Cerebrovascular Center. One year later, he was promoted to professor of neurosurgery. He is also medical director of the Neurovascular-Neuroscience Intensive Care Unit at Yale-New Haven Hospital.
Awad's fundamental contributions to the field of neurosurgery include the characterization of subcortical ischemic lesions in the aged, advances in the understanding of
the natural history and biologic behavior of cerebral vascular malformations, and numerous technical advances in neurovascular and epilepsy surgery. He is actively involved in research on the biologic mechanisms predisposing to stroke from vascular malformations of the brain, population prevalence and etiologic spectrum of hemorrhagic stroke, and the outcome of treatment strategies for complex cerebrovascular lesions.
A native of Lebanon, Awad pursued his education in the United States, receiving B.S. and M.S. degrees in biochemistry
and a M.D. degree, all from Loma Linda University in California. He completed his residency training in neurological surgery at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation.
He completed fellowship training in neurovascular surgery at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Arizona, and had additional neurotraumatology training at the Head and Spinal Injury Unit of the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh in Scotland.
Awad was a full-time faculty member at Stanford University School of Medicine 1986-87 and was an attending staff physician 1987-93 at the Cleveland Clinic
Foundation in Ohio, where he headed the section of cerebrovascular surgery and was surgical director of the Cerebrovascular Center 1990-93. He was vice chair of the department of neurological surgery there 1991-93.
The author of more than 170 scientific papers and book chapters, Awad has edited 10 books on cerebrovascular surgery and other aspects of neurological surgery. In 1995, he edited the book "Philosophy of Neurological Surgery," published under the auspices of the American Association of
Neurological Surgeons. The book, to which Awad also contributed three chapters, was the first to explore the heritage of neurosurgery and identify its methods and purposes.
Awad participates in the leadership of many professional societies and lectures
frequently at international symposia. He has been a visiting professor at numerous institutions.