Dr. David A. Herz Talks Candidly with Cambridge Who's Who about the Complexity of Neurosurgery and the Simplicity of Compassionate Care

    WYOMING, MI, July 30 2010 /24-7PressRelease/ --Often referred to as the "father of modern neurosurgery," Harvey Williams Cushing said: "The capacity of man himself is only revealed when, under stress and responsibility, he breaks through his educational shell, and he may then be a splendid surprise to himself no less than to his teachers." In the years following Cushing's passing in 1939, multitudes of physicians have proved his philosophy to be true, including Michigan-based neurosurgeon, Dr. David A. Herz.

"The most important thing [that] I teach my students and residents is how to think," he stated during an exclusive interview with Cambridge Who's Who. "The practice of medicine has to do with training and experience. The training has to have certain basic amounts of information—after all, one has to know anatomy, the structure of the human body [and] how it functions...But I try to interact with the trainees [to] get them to answer their own questions. Instead of just telling them my diagnosis, [I] let him or her work through it based on the facts. The real issue is to logic through the situation." Of course, Dr. Herz speaks from experience, having built his confidence through the support of his professors while in medical school. He was interested in the nervous system and his professors recognized him as a bright student with unusual surgical skills. As such, they saw to it that he secured a position in training for neurosurgery.

Sure, Dr. Herz' educational experience may sound matter-of-fact, but his schooling and career path have been as easy as, well, brain surgery. He earned a bachelor of science in biology from Marietta College in 1965 and received his medical degree from New York Medical College in 1969. Dr. Herz went on to complete a surgical internship as well as a residency in neurological surgery at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He also completed a sub-internship at Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital & Medical Center. He is board certified through the American Board of Neurological Surgery and is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons.

His commencement from medical school resounded like a gunshot at the starting gate and Dr. Herz hit the ground running in the 1970s. He focused his early efforts on research with regard to spine and brain surgery—studies that were nationally recognized and published. Over the course of his career, his clinical findings have appeared in many scholarly journals and publications. In addition to neurosurgical and micro-neurosurgical operations, Dr. Herz is widely recognized for his research pertaining to severe muscle spasms associated with paralysis. He also has long-term involvement with brain tumor surgery. In fact, he was the first medical professional in Michigan to use the laser for brain tumor operations. Though his clinical practice now focuses on managing disorders of the nervous system through surgery, he is especially interested in pain management, occupational medicine, rehabilitation, tumors and medical socio-economics. He commented on his work in research and his current professional aims, "[I] contributed to the scientific fund of knowledge in a time when I was at my youngest and most vigorous. At the present time, I would rather use all [of] this training and experience, and if I have any, wisdom, just [to network] with my fellow physicians and community."

Dr. Herz has been a clinical professor in the department of surgery at Michigan State University - a charge that he has enjoyed intensely. Forever grateful to his own mentors and teachers, he strives to offer his students the same guidance that paved the way for his own career success. "I'd like the numerous students and residents that I've interacted with to remember me in some small way—the way I remember my mentors. And I would like for the community...To think of me as a man who contributed on a social and professional basis to the wellbeing of his fellow individuals," he stated.

If being remembered is something that Dr. Herz is concerned with, he needn't worry. He is an active public speaker on all things pertaining to neurological surgery and medicine as a whole. He has made an excess of 40 national presentations, the topics of which have ranged from rehabilitative neurosurgery to microcirculation and subarachnoid hemorrhage to spinal disc disease and improving patients safety in hospitals. "As far as national presentations, I think I've done them all," he chuckled. "I will, from time to time, lecture to the community here in town on common disorders referable to the spine. My other engagements are on a monthly basis here at the hospital (Metro Health Hospital) teaching the students and residents of Michigan State University, in addition to students from all over the country."

Dr. Herz' interactive nature has set him apart from his fellow healthcare practitioners and has proved him to be a trustworthy and reliable physician. He enjoys meeting and consulting with new doctors as well as referring medical professionals and those involved in other varying specialties. Perhaps most distinguishable about Dr. Herz is his humble nature, despite his sometimes intimidating wealth of knowledge and accomplished career. "If an individual were to ask me who I am, I would like them to think [that] I am a kindly old gentleman who's here for their welfare [and] is very interested in the social and [health-related] basis of their happiness." Perhaps Aristotle said it best, "And of course, the brain is not responsible for any of the sensations at all. The correct view is that the seat and source of sensation is the region of the heart."

To learn more about Dr. Herz, please visit http://www.davidaherz.com. David A. Herz, MD, FACS can be contacted at 616-977-5022 or by email at [email protected].

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