The Gurdjian-Thomas Visiting Professor Lecture Series is held twice each year. Faculty, residents, community neurosurgeons and other physicians gather together for dinner followed by a lecture from a collection of world renowned neurosurgeons.

The present training program in neurosurgery at Wayne State University has a rich heritage of 68 years. Our first chairman, Dr. E. Stephen Gurdjian, was a neurosurgical pioneer. He founded the residency program in 1946 and was responsible for major innovations in the research of traumatic brain injury. In 1970, he was succeeded as chairman by Dr. L. Murray Thomas, a former Gurdjian resident. Dr. Thomas continued the head injury research and also brought the department into the modern microscopic realm. Dr. Thomas, a superb technician and clinician, served as chairman until retirement in 1990. The Gurdjian-Thomas Visiting Professor Lecture Series honors these two chairmen whose grand visions have led to our great accomplishments.

2015 Gurdjian-Thomas Visiting Professors:

• November 10, 2015: John Kestle, MD: "Multicenter Collaboration - Is it Worth It?"

2013 Gurdjian-Thomas Visiting Professors:

• May 13, 2013: Claudia Robertson, MD: "Management of Traumatic Brain Injury."
• October 9, 2013: Line Jacques, MD: "Peripheral Nerve Surgery."

2012 Gurdjian-Thomas Visiting Professors:

• March 6, 2012: Fredric Meyer, MD FACS, Professor and Chariman, Neurologic Surgery, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine. "The Future of Neurosurgical Education."
• June 7, 2012: Dr. Marc Ribó - "Endovascular Treatment of Stroke: Reflections After IMS3."

2011 Gurdjian-Thomas Visiting Professors:

• January 11, 2011: Gail Rosseau, MD, FACS, FAANS, Northshore University Health System, "The Concussion 'Epidemic' and Neurosurgery."
• April 26, 2011: Alan Cohen, MD, FACS, FAAP, Surgeon-in-Chief, Chief of Pediatric Neurological Surgery, Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital; Robert and William Reinberger Chair, Pediatric Neurological Surgery; Professor, Neurological Surgery and Pedicatrics; Neurological Surgery Residency Program Director Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, Ohio. "The Origin and Evolution of Minimally Invasive Neurosurgery."
• June 21, 2011: Michael Steinmetz, MD, Chairman, Department of Neuroscience, MetroHealth Medical Center; Associate Professor, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, Ohio. "Cervical Deformity."

2010 Gurdjian-Thomas Visiting Professors:

• July 9, 2010: Edward R. Laws, MD, FACS - Professor of Neurosurgery, Director of Neuro-Endocrine and Pituitary Programs - Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts. "Evolution and State of the Art in the Management of Pituitary Tumors."
• October 12, 2010: Peter Black, MD, PhD - Franc D. Ingraham Professor of Neurosurgery, Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, Massachusetts. "Personalized Neurosurgery for Brain Tumors."

2009 Gurdjian-Thomas Visiting Professors:

• February 25, 2009: Raj Murali, Professor and Chairman, New York Medical College "Infections of the Temporal Bone with Special Emphasis on the Management of Temporal Encephaloceles"
• May 26, 2009: Fady T. Charbel, MD, FACS, Professor and Head of Neurosurgery University of Illinois at Chicago "EC-IC Bypass: A Quarter Century Later: What have we learned?"
• December 1, 2009: Steven Brem, MD, Chair, Department of Neuro-Oncology Moffitt Cancer Center Professor, University of South Florida College of Medicine "Advances in the Multimodality Treatment of Brain Tumors"

2008 Gurdjian-Thomas Visiting Professors:

• April 1, 2008: Stephen Haines, MD, Lyle A. French Chair and Head of the Department of Neurosurgery - University of Minnesota "Evidence-Based Neurosurgery"
• May 6, 2008: William Cauldwell, MD, Ph.D., Professor and Joseph J. Yager Chairman of Neurological Surgery University of Utah "Management of the Difficult Meningioma"
• July 1, 2008: Steve Giannotta, MD, Professor and Chairman University of Southern California "Comprehensive Management of Acoustic Neuromas"
• September 9, 2008: Edward Benzel, MD, Chairman, Department of Neurosurgery Cleveland Clinic Foundation Director, Center for Spine Health "Fusion, Motion Preservation and Biomechanics: The Fundamentals"
• October 14, 2008: Julian Bailes, MD, Chairman, Department of Neurosurgery West Virginia University "Is There Potential for Long-Term Effects of Athletic Concussion?"
• November 18, 2008: Andre' Olivier, MD, Professor and Chairman, Neurosurgery, Montreal Neurological Hospital / McGill University; "Surgery of Temporal Lobe Epilepsy"

2007 Gurdjian-Thomas Visiting Professors:

• March 13, 2007: Eugene Flamm, MD, Montefiore Medical Center "Neurosurgery Before Cushing: The Formative Years 1517-1867"
• May 15, 2007: Neil Martin, MD, UCLA Medical Center "Evaluation and Management of Eloquent Cortex AVMs"

2006 Gurdjian-Thomas Visiting Professors:

• March 14, 2006: Peter Jannetta, MD, University of Pittsburgh "Cranial Nerve Surgery"
• September 19, 2006: Hunt Batjer, MD, Northwestern University "Cerebrovascular Disease in the New Millennium"
• November 14, 2006: Tom Gennarelli, MD, Medical College of Wisconsin Traumatic Brain Injury: "Where We've Been and Where We Are Going"