Upstate Medical University expands neurosurgery services with hiring of three doctors

SYRACUSE — Upstate Medical University announced that it has expanded its neurosurgery department with the hiring of three new surgeons, allowing Upstate to offer “additional and expanded services to a larger region of New York.” 

It has hired Dr. Harish Babu, Dr. Ali Hazama, and Dr. Timothy Beutler. 

The three new neurosurgeons expand Upstate’s existing department, making it the largest neurosurgical team in Central New York. The expansion of the department by nearly a third will allow Upstate to provide neurosurgical care to a wider portion of New York state, Dr. Satish Krishnamurthy, interim chair of the department, said in a release. 

“Upstate’s department of neurosurgery has been serving the region for more than 60 years,” Krishnamurthy said. “We are dedicated to the Upstate Medical University mission to improve the health of the communities we serve through education, biomedical research and patient care. The addition of these three specialist neurosurgeons will enable us to provide excellent patient care to more patients in more specialty areas.”

The department of neurosurgery multispecialty group offers advanced care and technologies as well as “basic, translational and clinical research aimed at finding new treatments and improved strategies” for disorders of the brain and spine. 

The department plays a central role in Upstate facilities, including the region’s “only” adult and pediatric Level-1 trauma center; Upstate Cancer Center; the Upstate Golisano Children’s Hospital’s neonatal care units; the comprehensive stroke center; and the region’s telestroke network, which supports stroke care at 11 hospitals across Upstate and Central New York.

About the doctors

Babu joins Upstate Medical after completing residency from the department of neurosurgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. Following residency training, he completed fellowships first in epilepsy/functional neurosurgery at the University of Toronto in Canada, followed by tumor/skull base neurosurgery fellowship at the Center for Minimally Invasive Neurosurgery, Prince of Wales Hospital, Sydney, Australia. Babu obtained his doctoral degree in neuroscience from Charite Medical University in Germany. His specializations at Upstate Medical will include adult brain tumors, skull-base tumors, and gamma knife; functional (epilepsy), general and spinal surgeries. 

Hazama has been a resident in the department of neurosurgery at Upstate Medical since 2013. He is a graduate of Chicago Medical School, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science. Hazama’s specialties at Upstate will include general, spine, and minimally invasive spine surgery. He will practice at Upstate Community Hospital and the downtown campus. 

Dr. Timothy Beutler completed a residency in neurological surgery at Upstate Medical University, which began in 2013 and included a fellowship in Neuro Critical Care (CAST Program) from 2017 to 2018. Beutler is a graduate of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. His specialties at Upstate Medical will include critical care, general, and spine. He is Upstate’s first neurosurgeon dedicated to critical care neurosurgery.