Our current series on Making and Maintaining a Neurosurgeon discusses how one transitions from student to resident to practicing neurosurgeon. This cross-post highlights the second chapter after practicing neurosurgery. Eleven years ago, Julie G. Pilitsis, MD, PhD, FAANS, set a goal to become a dean for a college of medicine.
To achieve this goal, Dr. Pilitsis worked toward gaining experience in the clinical, educational and research aspects of medicine at Albany Medical College. After a national search, she became the chair of The Department of Neuroscience and Experimental Therapeutics. Subsequently, she obtained additional leadership training through the Harvard course for chairs, Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine and earned a Masters in Business Administration. To help garner institutional budget experience, she joined the system’s finance committee. To gain philanthropy experience, she obtained formal training and worked closely with her institutional foundation.
In 2022, Dr. Pilitsis became the dean and vice president of medical affairs at Schmidt College of Medicine at Florida Atlantic University (FAU). She is the first female neurosurgeon to become a medical school dean. “A community is essential for all of us to get to where we are going. The central tenet of my time at FAU will echo that spirit of developing a health care workforce ‘of the community, for the community.’ I am proud to be a part of the neurosurgical community,” states Dr. Pilitsis.
to read the full article in the AANS Neurosurgeon.
Editor’s Note: Effective Jan. 8, Dr. Pilitsis is now the of the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Arizona College of Medicine.
We hope you will share what you learn from our posts in the Making and Maintaining a Neurosurgeon series. We invite you to join the conversation on Twitter by following @Neurosurgery and using the hashtag #Neurosurgery.
