Meet our Chair
Reid C. Thompson, MD is the William F. Meacham Professor and Chairman of Neurological Surgery. Dr. Thompson received his undergraduate degree from the University of Maryland and his M.D. degree from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland. Dr. Thompson completed the Halsted Internship in General Surgery and Residency in Neurological Surgery between 1989 and 1995 at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland, followed by one year of service there as Advanced Clinical Instructor. He then completed a one-year fellowship in Cerebrovascular Surgery at Stanford University School of Medicine.
Dr. Thompson has been with Vanderbilt since 2002 and was appointed as Chairman of the Vanderbilt Neurosurgery Department in 2010.
Dr. Thompson is actively involved in neuro oncology research and is a member of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, the Congress of Neurological Surgeons, and serves on the Joint Section of Cerebrovascular Surgery for the American Association of Neurological Surgeons and the Congress of Neurological Surgeons.
Program Director
Lola B. Chambless, MD, FAANS is the Neurosurgery Residency Program Director and Professor of Neurological Surgery and Radiation Oncology, and George S. Allen Chair in Neurological Surgery at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
Dr. Chambless received her undergraduate degree from Stanford University and her medical degree from Vanderbilt University where she was a Canby Robinson Scholar and member of Alpha Omega Alpha. She completed her neurosurgery residency and an enfolded fellowship in neurosurgical oncology at Vanderbilt, as well as a fellowship in minimally invasive neurosurgery at Prince of Wales Hospital in Sydney Australia. Her clinical expertise is in the surgical management of brain and skull base tumors with an emphasis on minimally invasive and endoscopic approaches. Her research interests include the use of advanced data science techniques to predict outcomes in neurosurgical oncology as well as collaborations with biomedical engineers to improve neurosurgical techniques. When she joined the faculty in 2012, she was appointed Assistant Residency Program Director, and gradually assumed more responsibility for educating and training the students and housestaff of Vanderbilt before being named Program Director in 2018.
Dr. Chambless is passionate about building neurosurgical educational programs nationally. She currently serves on the Executive Committee for the Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS), as Co-Chair of the CNS Leadership Institute and a Scientific Program Committee Chair for the 2022 CNS Annual Meeting. She is also an active member of the Medical Student Committee of the Society of Neurological Surgeons involved in reforms to the Neurosurgery Match.
Associate Program Director
Rohan Chitale, MD, is the Neurosurgery Residency Associate Program Director and an Associate Professor of Neurological Surgery at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, with a specialty in open cerebrovascular and endovascular neurosurgery.
Dr. Chitale received his undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania where he graduated magna cum laude. He received his medical degree from Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, PA and is a member of Alpha Omega Alpha. He completed his neurosurgery residency and endovascular neurosurgery fellowship at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia. His areas of clinical expertise include cerebral aneurysms, arteriovenous malformations, stroke, fistulas, cavernomas, intracerebral hemorrhage, and other neurovascular disorders of the brain and spine. His research interests include robotics and imaging applications in neurovascular diseases, as well as clinical outcomes research.
Dr. Chitale is dedicated to resident education. He is committed to the guidance and mentorship of trainees through their neurosurgical residency and also through the department’s CAST-approved neurovascular fellowship. He currently serves as Associate Residency Program Director for the Vanderbilt Neurosurgery Residency Program.
Associate Program Director
Scott Zuckerman, MD, is a Board-Certified Neurosurgeon and Assistant Professor in the Department of Neurological Surgery and Orthopaedic Surgery.
He serves as the Assistant Program Director of the Neurosurgery Residency. He is also the Co-Director of the Vanderbilt Sports Concussion Center and Vanderbilt Spine Outcomes Lab. His clinical interests include the surgical treatment of all spinal disorders, including and adult spinal deformity, scoliosis, degenerative spine disease, primary and metastatic spinal tumors, spinal trauma and sport-related spine injuries. His practice also includes the treatment of sport-related concussion.
Dr. Zuckerman earned his BS degree from Cornell University, attending Vanderbilt University for medical school and residency, and completed an orthopedic spine fellowship at Columbia.
Dr. Zuckerman is dedicated to training all Vanderbilt neurosurgery residents in the areas of surgery, research, and career planning. He helps mentor residents focusing particularly on spine in their elective years.
Program Manager
Pam Lane is the Neurosurgery Program Manager at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Pam started her career in Graduate Medical Education in June 2000 working with a busy spine surgery fellowship program in Texas. She moved to Tennessee in 2012 and joined Vanderbilt in early 2013.
Pam enjoys the fast pace and challenges of working with surgical residency and fellowship programs. Her interests include innovation in academic education and mentoring other administrators in GME. She recently became TAGME certified and was named President Elect of the Association of Residency Administrators in Neurosurgery.
