Director of Neurosurgery
Medical College of Wisconsin
Prevea Health System
Green Bay, WI

Position Specifics
The Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) Department of Neurosurgery, in partnership with Prevea Health System, is currently seeking a board eligible/certified neurosurgeon to continue the expansion of a successfully established hub & spoke, community-based neurosurgery practice model which functions within the over-arching context of MCW’s nationally recognized academic neurosurgery program. Fellowship training is not required for this position, but candidates with expertise in Complex Spine, Tumor, or Neurotrauma are encouraged to apply.

Expansion of Strategic Neurosurgical Partnerships
Prevea Health System, Green Bay, WI

The successful inaugural launch of the community based neurosurgery program inspired a broader scope expansion of strategically placed neurosurgical partnerships located across the state. After extensive analysis and investigation, MCW’s Department of Neurosurgery recently entered into strategic partnerships with two of the Midwest’s major health systems, the Wheaton Franciscan Health System and the Prevea Health System. As a result, the MCW Neurosurgery Department will soon begin providing neurosurgical services to our partner’s affiliate hospitals in a hub & spoke practice model that combines the academic expertise of our neurosurgical faculty and the vast resources and infrastructure of our partner health systems.

The incoming neurosurgeon will benefit from a full academic faculty appointment through the MCW Department of Neurosurgery, and will be clinically based at one of the ‘spoke’ hospitals in Racine or Green Bay WI (based on their preference and qualifications).

A brief overview of the position is provided for your review below. Please contact Jim Hagood, the Neurosurgery Search Consultant overseeing this recruitment if you have any questions or interest in the opportunity (214.396.5123).

Qualifying Requirements
Qualified candidates must be eligible for medical license in the state of Wisconsin. Fellowship training is not required, but candidates with subspecialty interests are encouraged to apply. The position is ideally suited for a neurosurgeon with an affinity toward collegiality and academic pursuits, yet driven to build large clinically productive general neurosurgery programs. As with faculty located in Milwaukee, colleagues in the community hospital locations are strongly encouraged and supported with respect to their individual academic endeavors. Each community based neurosurgery program offers varying degrees of opportunity to teach and pursue research initiatives. Moreover, community based MCW neurosurgeons are provided full access to the educational, research and administrative infrastructure in place at MCW-Milwaukee.

Hub & Spoke Neurosurgery Model
An increasing number of traditional university hospital based academic programs believe that the extension of their clinical reach into community locations is the wave of the future. This new model is best described as a ‘hub and spoke’. By expanding the clinical presence of programs into community locations (spokes), patients benefit from the full spectrum of care and rapid access to physicians who are prepared to treat at the community location but have the ability to refer patients to subspecialty colleagues at the university hospital location (hub) when necessary. Likewise, residency and research programs benefit from the added breadth and depth of a larger number cases resulting from the aggregated hub and spoke system.

MCW readily embraces the hub-and-spoke model having successfully established multiple spoke locations throughout the state. In like manner the MCW Neurosurgery department is fully engaged in the expanding hub and spoke model. It is important to note that the community based ‘spoke’ locations operate in precisely the same manner as the university based hub location, including strict adherence to evidenced based medicine, MCW Neurosurgery established protocol, Lean Six Sigma processes, code of conduct, etc.

Opportunity: Director of Neurosurgery
Prevea Health System, Green Bay, WI

Prevea Health System Overview
Prevea Health is an integrated multispecialty group based in Northeast Wisconsin and the only physician group partnered with two hospitals in Green Bay and a third hospital in Sheboygan. Over 200 Prevea providers at 23 separate centers provide coverage to the catchment population of approximately 800k people. The Prevea360 Health Plan integrates providers, hospitals and comprehensive insurance coverage into one system, and is widely subscribed across Northeast Wisconsin. An aspect of Prevea360 Health that is particularly noteworthy is its onsite clinical presence at major employers in the area. The clinics are staffed by Prevea Health providers at 29 of the larger employers in the area. The result is a large network of referrals to Prevea Health providers.

Prevea-St. Vincent Hospital Statistics
The Prevea Health neurosciences program is based primarily at the larger of its Green Bay Hospitals (Prevea-St. Vincent). Prevea-St. Vincent has 255 beds admitting approximately 10,000 patients annually of which roughly 6,000 are admitted for surgery. The Prevea-St. Vincent emergency department experiences approximately 35,000 visits per year, making it the busiest emergency program in WI outside of Milwaukee.

Level II Trauma Center
Prevea-St. Vincent is the region’s first trauma center and one of only 5 trauma centers in Wisconsin to be verified by the American College of Surgeons (ACS). The ACS Committee on Trauma verified the St. Vincent Regional Emergency Center as a Level II Trauma Center in December 1999, which is the highest ranking a non-university-affiliated emergency center may attain. ACS verification confirms that Previa-St. Vincent provides the highest level of trauma care possible for all injured patients, including pediatric patients.

Of noteworthy importance is the exceptionally high percentage of non-penetrating, blunt-force trauma cases treated annually at Prevea-Green Bay. This is due in large measure to a very strong attraction to the region for hunting, fishing, boating and to attend highly contested professional sporting events. Thus, unlike many large urban trauma programs, the majority of patients admitted to the Prevea-St. Vincent trauma service are insured.

Hospital Employed Neurologists
Four hospital employed neurologists provide a strong referral base to neurosurgery. One of the neurologists is triple boarded in adult, child and epilepsy. Each neurologist is capable of reading EEG and EMG. The stroke center at Prevea-Green Bay is JCAHO certified as a comprehensive stroke center. The hospital is staffed with more than 20 NP/PA’s and the clinical site for the 4th year preceptorship with the University of Wisconsin.

Established Spine Center
The Prevea Spine Center provides quick access to new patients and effective clinical support for existing patients. An established multi-disciplinary spine council provides physicians with the forum to collegially discuss cases and protocol. The center enables MCW-Green Bay neurosurgeons to focus primarily on surgery eligible cases thereby reducing to a minimum the amount of time allocated to cases that will be treated medically.

Surgery Suite and ICU
The Prevea-Green Bay surgery suite contains 29 ORs, several of which are suited for neurosurgery cases. Adjacent to the surgery suite are 2 MRI machines, one of which is equipped with a larger bore for patients requiring additional room. Spectroscopy capabilities are available at a separate Prevea-Green Bay location.

Post-surgery patients are admitted as required by MCW neurosurgery protocol and best practices to a 23-bed ICU of which 11 beds are dedicated to post surgery cases. The unit is equipped with 4.5 FTE pulmonology/critical care trained intensivists. At any given time a measurable percentage of patients in the ICU were admitted by neurosurgery, following craniotomy, tumor resection or trauma surgery.

Cancer Center – NCI Designated Community Clinical Oncology Program
The Prevea-Green Bay Cancer Center (aka St. Vincent Cancer Collaborative) uses state-of-the-art detection, diagnosis, and treatment methods used in nationally acclaimed cancer centers. The center is staffed by Green Bay Oncology one of a select few physician groups in the nation participating in the National Cancer Institute’s Community Clinical Oncology Program (CCOP). Through the CCOP, patients gain access to the latest, most effective cancer treatment available anywhere. The center was 1 of 3 Wisconsin organizations in 2014 to receive a $12.5 million grant from the National Cancer Institute.

MCW School of Medicine-Green Bay Campus
The Medical College of Wisconsin has begun recruiting the first students at its new Green Bay-area campus for inaugural classes in July 2015. The new campus is expected to enroll 20 to 25 students per year in a collaborative educational model engaging multiple partners. Classroom and administrative spaces are being constructed in the new science building at St. Norbert College in De Pere. Students will also complete coursework at Bellin College of Nursing and Radiologic Sciences, Northeast Wisconsin Technical College and at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. The MCW-Green Bay campus will provide teaching opportunities to the MCW-Green Bay faculty who are so inclined. The various partner campuses mentioned above also have lab space available to neurosurgeons with basic science interests.

Support for Research
Candidates with interest in device oriented R&D will be impressed by the strong investment and dependence that device manufacturers have in Prevea-Green Bay due to a high volume of patients and supportive environment. Prevea-Green Bay also has an established program in support of clinical trials and related research. The incoming neurosurgeon will benefit from an established monthly tumor board and onsite pathology team.

Green Bay Area
The Green Bay area is a veritable paradise for those interested in outdoor activities like hunting and fishing or professional sports. Wisconsin waters are exceptional for year-round fishing in the likes of Lake Michigan, Bay of Green Bay, Blue Harbor and the Fox River. Green Bay is also the smallest city to host a National Football League team. Founded in 1919, the 13-time National Champion Green Bay Packers are the only NFL team to be owned by its fans. Underlying modern day Green Bay is the rich heritage of the Native American Oneida Nation of the Iroquois Confederacy, for which many of the region’s towns and cities are named.

Department of Neurosurgery at the Medical College of Wisconsin
Department Overview
Dr. Dennis J. Maiman is the Sanford J. Larson Professor and Chairman of Neurosurgery at MCW. He holds a secondary academic appointment at the college as a Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. The department provides a full range of neurosurgical services for children and adults through eleven separate clinical programs, including Acoustic Neuroma, Brain Injury, Neuro-Oncology, Pediatric Brain Tumor, Epilepsy, Gamma Knife, Movement Disorders, Pediatric Neurosurgery, Stroke, Spinal Fractures and Spinal Cord Injury and Spine Care. The department has twenty three full time primary faculty and is recognized internationally as a leader in spine surgery, spine biomechanics, brain injury and neurotrauma. The MCW Department of Neurosurgery has a seven year neurosurgery residency and spine fellowship program. Each program accepts 1-2 people per year.

Spinal Cord Injury Center and SpineCare
Dr. Maiman holds the hospital appointment of Senior Attending Neurosurgeon at Froedtert Memorial Lutheran Hospital where he is also the Founding Medical Director of both the regional Spinal Cord Injury Center and SpineCare a unique trans-disciplinary clinic for the management of spine problems. Additionally, Dr. Maiman is the Director of the Spine Surgery Fellowship at the Medical College of Wisconsin.

SpineCare specializes in treating patients with neck and back pain and is staffed by seventeen physicians including, neurosurgeons, physiatrists, chiropractors, psychologists, orthopedic surgeons, and neurologists. SpineCare emphasizes early intervention and offer a comprehensive, evidence-based approach to spine care. The goal is to encourage an early, safe return to your routine activities and workplace, and to help patients prevent long-term disability from back and neck pain.

Coordinated Clinical and Research Laboratories
The MCW Vehicle Crashworthiness Laboratory (VCL) consists of a test track, towing device, dummy storage and calibration laboratory, data acquisition, processing systems, and high-speed cameras. The impact area is housed in 80-ft x 100-ft crash laboratory at one end of the test track. The laboratories at the Zablocki VA Medical Center include comprehensive capabilities from microscopic, cellular, and gene level evaluations, to vehicle crashworthiness. This is the only facility which has all the above capabilities in an academic, hospital-based setting. The MCW Histology Laboratory is fully equipped and staffed, capable of all routine techniques, including silver stains, Trichrome stains, paraffin sectioning and cryostat sectioning. The MCW Biomechanics Laboratories include an overhead swinging pendulum laboratory capable of speeds up to 12 m/s with mini-sled apparatus on linear precision bearings with 3-m run-out.

Medical College of Wisconsin
MCW Overview
The Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) is a private, freestanding medical school and graduate school of sciences located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and is one of only two medical schools in Wisconsin. More than 1,350 faculty physicians with MCW provide adult and pediatric care to more than 425,000 patients, representing more than 1.6 million patient visits annually.

History of MCW
MCW opened in 1893 as the Wisconsin College of Physicians and Surgeons. The Milwaukee Regional Medical Center was established in the mid-20th century and surrounds MCW’s campus. Most physicians who staff the clinics and hospitals on campus are full-time faculty physicians of MCW. Noteworthy hospital affiliates include Froedtert Hospital (500 beds) the only adult Level 1 Trauma Center in eastern Wisconsin, Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin (296 beds) a Level 1 Pediatric Trauma Center named by U.S. News & World Report as one of America’s Best Children’s Hospitals and the Clement J. Zablocki VA Medical Center (168 beds) which admits more than 8,000 patients per year and receives over $10 million in research funding by the VA and NIH.

Current Day
There are more than 1,260 students enrolled in education programs at the Medical College of Wisconsin, consisting of about 810 medical students and more than 450 graduate students. An additional 650 physicians in residency and 250 physicians in fellowship training work with MCW’s affiliated hospitals throughout the state. About 200 scientists conduct postdoctoral research with MCW.