Neuroscience Hospital Created

The new Jefferson Hospital for Neuroscience will consolidate one of the nation's busiest neurosurgery programs in what is now the Wills Eye Hospital building, creating an additional site for Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.

Thomas Jefferson University completed the purchase of the Wills building, 9th and Walnut streets, on November 30 to enable Jefferson to develop a neuroscience hospital, announced Jefferson Hospital President and CEO Thomas J. Lewis. Jefferson neurosurgeons will continue to practice, teach and pursue clinical and research advances for the treatment of brain and spinal disorders at this location without interruption.

A month previously, Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, part of the Jefferson Health System, assumed sole operation of the Jefferson-Wills Neurosurgery Program and completed the purchase of a high-tech array of neurosurgical and other equipment that includes the region's only gamma knife, a noninvasive alternative to conventional neurosurgery. In addition, 470 Wills employees were offered positions to continue their jobs as Jefferson University Hospital employees.

"The University and the Hospital plan to continue to expand and further develop their pre-eminent neurosurgery program at this new Hospital for Neuroscience," explained Mr. Lewis. "In the future, the Hospital will also have the opportunity to consolidate at this new site Jefferson's outstanding neurology programs in such areas as epilepsy and headache."

During the past decade, the Department of Neurology of Thomas Jefferson University and Jefferson University Hospital has moved to the forefront in a number of treatment and research areas, including stroke, Alzheimer's disease and dementia, and Parkinson's disease.

Programs Are World-renowned

Jefferson University Hospital's world-renowned neurosurgical programs, led by Frederick A. Simeone, MD, Professor and Chairman, Department of Neurosurgery, Jefferson Medical College (JMC), treat vascular brain disease, brain tumors, epilepsy, spinal cord injuries, spinal disease and pain.

Recognized by U.S.News & World Report as among the best of their category in the nation, these programs employ the latest technologies such as focused beam radiation by gamma knife, linear accelerator and interventional neuroradiology.

The building also houses the Jefferson Geriatric Psychiatry Program, whose inpatient unit is staffed by Jefferson psychiatrists. This program is dedicated to treating psychiatric, psychological and neurological disorders of older adults.

Wills Eye Hospital will continue to use the 9th Street building to treat ophthalmology patients and perform surgeries while Wills' new building is being constructed on top of the Walnut Towers building on Walnut Street between 8th and 9th. Completion of the new Wills facility is anticipated by December 2002.

The Wills Emergency Service will remain in its present location, both now and in the future. In addition, patients requiring a hospital stay will be cared for in the existing facility.

Wills Eye Hospital, the nation's first facility devoted solely to eye care, serves as the Department of Ophthalmology of Jefferson University Hospital.

"The University has had a close and collaborative relationship over the years," explained Thomas Jefferson University President Paul C. Brucker, MD, "with many Wills physicians serving as faculty members of Jefferson Medical College and Jefferson medical students rotating through Wills as part of their training."