DETROIT, MI – Greek-American Dr. Steven Kalkanis spoke at the Annual Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS) which ran October 16-20 this year. The purpose of the 2021 Congress of Neurological Surgeons Annual Meeting is to provide continuing medical education for practicing neurosurgeons, neurosurgical residents in training, and postgraduate neurosurgical fellows, as well as advanced practice providers including nurses, physician assistants, and clinical specialists.

Dr. Kalkanis posted about the event on social media: “What an amazing honor to be able to celebrate with colleagues — in person, finally!— the future of neurosurgery!”

Dr. Kalkanis is Chief Executive Officer of the Henry Ford Medical Group, with more than 2,000 physicians and researchers, and Chief Academic Officer and Senior Vice President of Henry Ford Health System, a $7 billion enterprise with over 33,000 employees and five acute care hospitals in southeast Michigan. Before taking over as CEO, Dr. Kalkanis served as professor and chair of the Department of Neurosurgery, and co-director of the Neuroscience Institute at Henry Ford in Detroit. He also served as the founding Medical Director of the Henry Ford Cancer Institute (HFCI), which has grown into a $1.3B enterprise with 1,425 employees treating more than 8,000 new cancer patients and over 100,000 patient visits each year across all five Henry Ford sites—one of the largest cancer centers in the country. Dr. Kalkanis and his team also spearheaded one of the country’s most comprehensive precision medicine and molecular tumor board programs for all cancer types.

Since Dr. Kalkanis became Chair of Neurosurgery in 2014, the Department has grown to 33 faculty with two residents per year, with a total of eight NIH R01 grants currently in Neurosurgery, and is regularly listed in the national honor roll in U.S. News and World Report.

Dr. Kalkanis joined Henry Ford in 2004 after completing his neurosurgical training at Massachusetts General Hospital. He graduated with highest honors from Harvard University with the John Harvard Award, and then Harvard Medical School, where he served as Class Marshal and received the Linnane Prize for highest academic achievement.

In 2009, Dr. Kalkanis led a multidisciplinary team of experts to publish the largest set of guidelines to date on the treatment of metastatic brain tumors. He was the founding chair of the CNS Guidelines Committee where he helped to spearhead ten clinical practice guidelines in a myriad of topics, and he is the vice-Chair of the AANS/CNS Joint Guidelines Review Committee. He also is a past president of the Michigan Association of Neurological Surgeons.

Dr. Kalkanis served as Chair of the AANS/CNS Section on Tumors from 2016–2018. In 2018, he was named a Director of the American Board of Neurological Surgery. Elected to the CNS Executive Committee in 2009, Dr. Kalkanis has served in numerous leadership roles, including Scientific Program Chair, Secretary, President, and now Past President.

With the goal of refining personalized medicine treatment protocols, and as the Mark Rosenblum Endowed Chair in Neurosurgery, Dr. Kalkanis runs an NIH-funded translational research laboratory investigating molecular genetic differences between short- and long-term glioma survivors. Specializing in brain tumor surgery, he has been involved in numerous clinical trials and has authored over 150 peer-reviewed publications.

Dr. Kalkanis and his wife, Laurel, especially enjoy traveling with and cheering on their three children, Nicholas, Connor, and Grace, in multiple sporting, scouting, and musical activities.

Lisa Scarpace-Marusak, program manager and clinical research coordinator at the Henry Ford Health System, posted on social media: “It’s not every day that I can be in the audience for the annual Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS) meeting for the Presidential address by Steven Kalkanis, MD. With 150 publications, greater than 175 invited talks, 29 professorships, 3 NIH Grants and now the CEO of the Henry Ford Medical Group. Under his leadership we can translate vision into reality. The future is limitless!”