Leadership Committee Members

Dr. Brian Nahed is an Associate Professor of Neurosurgery at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. He specializes in brain tumors, brain mapping, and intraoperative imaging and technology. His research focuses on developing the first blood test for brain tumors which is funded by the National Institutes of Health. His laboratory is the first to publish the identification of circulating tumor cells in the blood patients with brain tumors. Dr. Nahed serves as the Associate Director of the MGH Neurosurgery Residency Program and is focused on teaching, mentoring, and developing innovative techniques in surgical training.

Dr. Nahed serves as an ex-officio member of the CNS Executive Committee, Vice-Scientific Programming Chair, and Co-Chair of the CNS Leadership Institute.

Ellen Air, MD, PhD, is Co-director of Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery and Residency Program Director at Henry Ford Health System, as well as Clinical Associate Professor at Wayne State University. She serves on the Executive Boards of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons, the American Society for Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery, and the AANS/CNS Joint Section on Women in Neurosurgery; the Editorial Boards of Congress Quarterly and CNS Watch; and is an Associate Editor for Neurosurgery. Her research is focused on the application of new technologies toward improved patient outcomes.

Dr. Lola Chambless is an Associate Professor of Neurological Surgery at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, TN. Her clinical practice is focused on minimally invasive techniques for treatment of skull base and brain tumors. Her research incorporates advanced data science techniques to study outcomes in neurosurgical oncology. She is the Residency Program Director at Vanderbilt and works with a number of collaborators nationwide on efforts to analyze and improve neurosurgical training. Dr. Chambless is also a Member-at-Large for the Congress of Neurological Surgeons. She leads the CNS Resident Committee, CNS Data Science Committee, and co-chairs the CNS Leadership Institute.

Dr. Maryam Rahman is an assistant professor in the department of neurosurgery at the University of Florida. She specializes in the surgical treatment of brain tumors. Her research focuses on identifying novel immunotherapy approaches to overcome resistance in patients with brain cancer. Dr. Rahman’s work is supported by grants from the NIH, the Preston A. Wells Jr. endowment and private foundations. Her translational research in dendritic cell vaccines and immune checkpoint inhibitors is actively being tested in human clinical trials. She also dedicates her time to training the next generation and has been awarded multiple teaching awards including Outstanding Basic Science Teacher in 2016 and Exemplary Teacher award in 2018 and 2019. She currently serves as member at large of the CNS Executive Committee and serves as chair of online education, editor of Nexus, tumor section editor of SANS and editor of webinars.