International Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation
Open Access
ISSN: 2329-9096
ISSN: 2329-9096
Bizhan Aarabi
Professor
Born in Iran in 1947, I had my education at Ferdowsi Elementary School (1953-59), Saadi High School (1959-1965), Pahlavi University Schools of Arts and Sciences (1965-1967) and Pahlavi University School of Medicine (1967-1973). My neurosurgical internship at the Pahlavi University (1973) was mentored by Kazem Abbassioun (see ref 5), trained by Earl Walker at the Johns Hopkins. I moved to Chicago in 1973 and had one year of straight surgical internship (1973-1974) at the Cook County Hospital of which 6 months was with Roy Selby at the division of neurosurgery affiliated with the University of Illinois College Of Medicine (Chaired by Oscar Sugar). I completed my neurosurgical training under D M Long at the Johns Hopkins Hospital and in July of 1979 moved back to Shiraz to chair the Division of Neurosurgery. During 1982 and 1983 I was certified by the American Board of Neurological Surgery and Royal College of Surgeons of Canada respectively. In 1995 I accepted a full time position at the Division of Neurosurgery, University of Nebrask.
Neurotrauma including cervical spine and traumatic brain injuries are my main interests. While at Hopkins, I worked on cold induced vasogenic brain edema in a cat model for one year. In this investigation it was learned that lesion excision completely interrupted edema spread. This study was completed in the Neurosurgical Department laboratory facilities with Drs. Donlin M Long and Melvin Epstein. We also evaluated the effectiveness of choleratoxin on the genesis and spread of cold induced brain edema in cats. From 1980-1988, while at the Shiraz University Medical School, I studied vascular, infectious and epileptic complications of penetrating brain injury in war casualties of Iran-Iraq war. At the University of Nebraska I was the PI of two major multicenter therapeutic trials in severe head injury: CP101-606 and Selfotel. At the University of Maryland we have been intensely involved in PRCT studies of Dexanabinol and COBRIT in TBI. From 2000-2006 we investigated the merits of decompressive craniectomy in severe head injury. One of the clinical studies I am very much interested in is traumatic cervical central cord syndrome. In 2007 the State of Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene funded a randomized study of the timing of decompression in central cord syndrome which was completed in 2009.