Charles Hodge Neurosurgeon: Neurosurgery Training

Charles Hodge, Neurosurgeon, spent thirty-four years in the Department of Neurosurgery in Syracuse, at the State University of New York Upstate Medical University. For nineteen of those years he was the Chair of a large neurosurgery training program there. His research during those years centered on pain mechanisms, cortical function plasticity and recovery from brain injury, and the use of Gamma Knife Radiosurgery for difficult brain tumors.

Charles Hodge, Neurosurgeon, developed cerebral bypass surgery in Upstate New York. He also contributed to the development of the neurologic navigational systems used to make cranial surgery safer and more effective. "I also started the MRI group that used that technology for localizing areas of brain function," he recalls. "I was responsible for training several dozen young neurosurgeons who are now working in areas throughout the United States."

During his years at the medical school in Syracuse, Charles Hodge, Neurosurgeon, was involved in many university efforts, including the redevelopment of its MD and Ph.D. program. He was also the chair of the local practice group for many years. While he was there, Charles Hodge, Neurosurgeon also helped lay the foundation for the University-based practices to become more competitive, by owning and operating a number of practice sites.

Charles Hodge, Neurosurgeon, is a native of New Jersey, where he was born and raised. He attended Princeton University where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in chemistry in 1963. He went on to medical school at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, did his surgical internship at Presbyterian Hospital in New York,  a year of surgical residency at Yale-New Haven Hospital in New Haven, Connecticut, and his Neurological Residency at the Health Science Center in Syracuse where, he said later, he found a home, returning there in 1969 for five years of additional training before joining its faculty.