Spotlight: Dr. Fernandez-Miranda

This month the PNA Spotlight focuses on Dr. Juan Carlos Fernandez-Miranda, a Professor of Neurosurgery and the Surgical Director of Brain Tumor, Skull Base and Pituitary Centers at Stanford University. Dr. Fernandez-Miranda did a neurosurgery residency at La Paz University Hospital in Madrid, Spain. He completed a fellowship in microsurgical neuroanatomy at the University of Florida. He did clinical training in cerebrovascular surgery at the University of Virginia, and in endoscopic endonasal and open skull base surgery at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC). He joined the faculty at Stanford earlier this year. He was kind enough to answer some questions from the PNA. His answers are below:

What inspired you to choose your career path?

When I was a young kid, about 10-11 years old, I got sick with a skin rash and high fever; the family doctor visited our home, carefully examined me, and based on a number of clues, he determined I got a very rare bacterial infection known as scarlet fever; a few days of antibiotic medication and I was back to normal. I now realized that I was fascinated by the wisdom, expertise, and detective attitude of the physician, and this personal event was (I now know) key to my future decision to become a doctor.

Medical Corner: Can Prolactin Protect You?

This month the PNA Medical Corner spotlights an article co-authored by PNA member G. Edward Vates, a professor of neurosurgery at the University of Rochester. The study finds that a moderately high level of prolactin (but not excessively high level) seems to protect retinal function in patients with a tumor squeezing the optic chiasm.

Link: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35921360/

Prolactin at moderately increased levels confers a neuroprotective effect in non-secreting pituitary macroadenomas.

Affiliations expand

• PMID: 35921360 PMCID: PMC9348739 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0271690

Abstract