 James M. Johnston, MD
Dr. Johnston is Chief of Pediatric Neurosurgery, Professor of Neurosurgery at UAB and the Dan L. Hendley Chair in Pediatric Neurosurgery. He is board certified by the American Board of Neurological Surgery and the American Board of Pediatric Neurological surgery. He is Director of the UAB Global Neurosurgery Program, Children’s of Alabama Global Surgery Program and the UAB/COA Pediatric Neurosurgery Fellowship.
Dr. Johnston grew up in Colorado and attended Washington and Lee University in Virginia for undergraduate studies. He then received his M.D. degree from Washington University School of Medicine in Saint Louis in 2002 and completed Neurosurgery residency in the Washington University Department of Neurosurgery from 2003-2006. He pursued post-doctoral training in functional and diffusion tensor MR imaging at the Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology Neuro-Imaging Laboratories from 2006-2008. During this time, he also served as neurosurgical registrar at the National Referral Centre for Neurosurgery, Beaumont Hospital in Dublin, Ireland from July to December 2007. Dr. Johnston was then named Chief Resident in Neurosurgery at Barnes Hospital from 2008-2009 and went on to complete fellowship training in pediatric neurosurgery at Saint Louis Children's Hospital in 2010.
He is a member of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons, American Association of Neurological Surgeons, International Society of Pediatric Neurosurgeons and the Children’s Oncology Group.
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 Jeffrey P. Blount, MD
Dr. Blount is a Professor of Neurosurgery at UAB and the Raymond J. Harbert Chair in Pediatric Neurosurgery. He is board certified by the American Board of Neurological Surgery and the American Board of Pediatric Neurological Surgery. He is a member of the American Society of Pediatric Neurosurgery, the American Epilepsy Society and the Pediatric Section of the AANS/CNS.
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 W. Jerry Oakes, MD- Professor Emeritus
W. Jerry Oakes was born and raised in DeSoto, Missouri and pursued his undergraduate university education at the University of Missouri-Columbia. He completed his medical school training and neurosurgery residency at Duke University. During his residency, he spent a year in Toronto, first in neurology and then in pediatric neurosurgery at the Hospital for Sick Children. Following the completion of his residency, he spent the next year in Europe; first at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children in London and then in Zurich with Professor Gazi Yasargil.
Returning to Duke, he spent the next fourteen years, developing the pediatric neurosurgical service. In 1992, he and his family relocated to Birmingham, Alabama and the Children's Hospital where he assumed the directorship of the Section of Pediatric Neurosurgery. Dr. Oakes is currently the UAB Distinguished Professor of Pediatrics and Neurosurgery. In the past twenty-four years, he has served as the Division Chief of Pediatric Neurosurgery, Chief of Staff of Children’s Hospital of Alabama and Chief of Surgery at Children’s of Alabama. Nationally he has served as the editor in chief of Journal of Neurosurgery; Pediatrics and president of the American Society of Pediatric Neurosurgeons. He served many years on the American Board of Pediatric Neurosurgery first as a director and then as vice-chair.
W. Jerry Oakes has retired and is no longer seeing patients in clinic or performing surgeries.
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 Curtis J. Rozzelle, MD
Curtis J. Rozzelle is Professor of Neurosurgery and Director of the UAB Department of Neurosurgery Residency Program. He grew up in Western North Carolina and attended Duke University as an undergraduate. He then served as an artillery officer in the United States Army in West Germany. He received his MD degree from the Bowman Gray School of Medicine at Wake Forest University and then completed residency in Neurosurgery at UAB School of Medicine. Dr. Rozzelle went on to complete fellowships in Pediatric Neurosurgery at the University of Texas-Southwestern Medical Branch, in Dallas and epilepsy surgery at the University Of South Florida College Of Medicine in Tampa. Dr. Rozzelle is a member of the Society of Neurosurgeons, American Epilepsy Society, American Society of Pediatric Neurosurgeons, and the Pediatric Section of the AANS/CNS, and is active in the Council of State Neurosurgical Societies. He is board-certified by both the American Board of Neurological Surgery and the American Board of Pediatric Neurological Surgery.
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 Jesse Jones, MD
Jesse Jones, M.D., is an interventional neuroradiologist within the UAB Department of Neurosurgery. He completed his graduate medical education at the University of California in Los Angeles, having trained in both diagnostic and interventional neuroradiology. Dr. Jones specializes in cerebral and spinal vascular disease affecting adult and pediatric patients. His research interests include stroke, vasospasm and biomedical device development.
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 Brandon Rocque, MD
Brandon G. Rocque is Professor of Neurosurgery at UAB, Director of Clinical Research, and Associate Program Director of the UAB Neurosurgery Residency. His primary focus is pediatric neurosurgery, including care for hydrocephalus, spina bifida, pediatric brain tumors, spasticity, peripheral nerve injuries, and Chiari malformation. He is certified by the American Board of Neurological Surgery, and is an active member of the AANS, CNS, the Joint Section on Pediatric Neurosurgery, and the American Society of Pediatric Neurosurgeons.
Dr. Rocque was born and raised in Atlanta, GA. He attended the University of Georgia, where he was a member of the NCAA top-ten men’s swim team and graduated summa cum laude with majors in chemistry and biology. He received his medical degree from Washington University in St. Louis and went on to neurosurgery residency at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. During residency, he completed a Master’s Degree in Clinical Investigation. Dr. Rocque spent an additional year in Madison for a fellowship in Complex and Reconstructive Spinal Surgery prior to completing his training with the renowned pediatric neurosurgery fellowship at Children’s of Alabama.
Dr. Rocque’s research focuses on improving the experience of care for children with neurosurgical conditions and their families. He has received multiple competitive grants for his work to improve the transition process from pediatric to adult care for individuals with spina bifida. He received a UAB CCTS KL2 award to support his research on distress and psychosocial risk among families of children with newly diagnosed brain tumors. In addition to those ongoing projects, Dr. Rocque is exploring the psychological effects of a lifetime of neurosurgical encounters for children with hydrocephalus.
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Elizabeth M. McRae, Ph.D.
Elizabeth M. McRae is a licensed clinical child psychologist and assistant professor in the UAB Department of Neurosurgery Division of Pediatric Neurosurgery. She is originally from South Carolina, where she graduated from Francis Marion University with her bachelor's degree in psychology and professional writing. She completed her graduate and post-graduate training at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where she earned her doctorate in medical/clinical psychology in 2022. Before joining the UAB Department of Neurosurgery, McRae was an assistant professor of psychology and worked as a practicing psychologist at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa.
McRae specializes in psychological adjustment in families of children at-risk for disrupted development, including neuro-developmental disorders and pediatric populations. McRae is interested in pursuing translational research in these areas, as well as working on interdisciplinary treatment teams to serve children and families in at-risk pediatric populations. She is also passionate about teaching, advocacy and engagement in leadership activities.
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Martina Gonzalez Gomez, MD, MSc
Martina Gonzalez Gomez is an assistant professor and assistant director of the global neurosurgery program in the UAB neurosurgery department. She has served as the Global Neurosurgery Program Manager for the last three years, leading the development of the Department’s Global Neurosurgery program. She also co-instructs the Global Surgery course for the UAB Heersink School of Medicine and the UAB School of Public Health’s Master of Science in Global Health.
Dr. Gonzalez Gomez earned her Medical Degree from Universidad de la Sabana in Colombia and completed a Master of Science in Global Health with a focus on Global Surgery at King’s College London, United Kingdom. She has eight years of clinical experience in both public and private healthcare settings in Colombia particularly as assistant physician for neurosurgical services and has conducted research on severe traumatic brain injury, normal pressure hydrocephalus, and global neurosurgery policy and advocacy. She has shared her work in been invited as speaker to numerous national and international neurosurgery meetings. Additionally, she has contributed to the global folic acid fortification initiative to prevent spina bifida and other neural tube defects and has actively participated in the G4 Alliance, advocating for improved access to surgical care worldwide. Dr. Gonzalez Gomez is an active volunteer with InterSurgeon, an organization that fosters global surgical collaboration. She is also committed to leadership development and is a Global Fellow for the WomenLift Health Leadership Journey in North America.
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Anastasia Smith, Dr.PH., MPH, CCRP
Dr. Smith is an assistant professor in the UAB Division of Pediatric Neurosurgery, where she has been embedded for nearly 15 years supporting the division’s clinical research enterprise. She has served as the site coordinator for the Hydrocephalus Clinical Research Network (HCRN) since 2013 and leads research education for the division’s trainees, including an evidence-based medicine and quality improvement curriculum, journal club, and hands-on mentorship in study design, regulatory processes, and manuscript development. She also co-directs INSPIRE, a mentored student pipeline program in pediatric and global neurosurgery.
Her research program centers on folic acid food fortification to prevent spina bifida and other neural tube defects, including folic acid salt fortification trials in Alabama and Zambia and folate surveillance in domestic and international populations. Originally from Belarus, Dr. Smith comes to fortification science through deep family roots: her father, Alexander Arynchyn, conducted salt iodization work there in the aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster. Now, Dr. Smith is working to incorporate folic acid into salt as a novel public health intervention. She serves as Managing Director of the Global Alliance for Prevention of Spina Bifida (GAPSBiF) and was part of the core team that secured the passage of World Health Assembly Resolution 76.19 (2023), the first neurosurgery-driven WHA resolution, which calls on member states to pursue food fortification for neural tube defect prevention. Closer to home, she worked alongside Dr. Blount and former fellow Dr. Michael Feldman on the advocacy effort behind Alabama House Bill 384, which mandates folic acid fortification of corn masa flour, reflecting her broader passion for translating science into public health policy. Her work has appeared in The Lancet Global Health, Public Health Nutrition, the Journal of Neurosurgery: Pediatrics, and World Neurosurgery, among others. Dr. Smith earned her Master of Public Health and her Doctor of Public Health in Outcomes Research from the UAB School of Public Health, completing her doctorate in 2024.
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