Dr. Ramin Rak Elected Treasurer Of Suffolk County Medical Society

ROCKVILLE, CENTRE, NY – Leading neurosurgeon Ramin Rak, M.D., F.A.AN.S., Co-Surgical Director and Director of the Awake Craniotomy and Brain Mapping Program of the Long Island Brain Tumor Center at NSPC Brain & Spine Surgery (NSPC) (NSPC), as well as Director of the Brain Tumor Program at NS-LIJ Huntington Hospital, has been elected treasurer of the Suffolk County Medical Society.  His term of office begins July 1, 2014. Dr. Rak is a resident of Woodbury, NY.

“It is a great honor to be chosen by my peers to serve in this key position,” said Dr. Rak.  “I look forward to working with my colleagues on the Medical Society Board to help uphold the highest standards for the medical profession.”

Dr. Rak is a board-certified neurosurgeon who specializes in brain and spine surgery. He has expertise in treating brain tumors, cerebrovascular and skull base diseases. Dr. Rak is an expert in minimally invasive micro-neurosurgical techniques, which he uses to perform most of his brain and spinal surgeries, and in stereotactic radiosurgery. He has extensive experience in performing awake craniotomies and has established awake craniotomy programs at Long Island hospitals.

Dr. Rak is a leading expert in intraoperative brain mapping in brain tumor surgeries – the use of sophisticated imaging technologies to plan and guide surgery, in order to get the best understanding of each patient’s brain structure and function.  He uses brain mapping to guide awake craniotomies – operations in which the patient is awakened during surgery and asked to perform certain tasks in order to avoid touching brain areas that control critical functions (eloquent areas of the brain).

Dr. Rak has conducted basic neuroscience and clinical research on a variety of brain and spine conditions for more than 20 years.  His research has looked at reperfusion injuries after treatment of stroke, micro-neurosurgical techniques and outcomes of difficult skull base and cerebrovascular diseases, and the use of adult olfactory ensheathing glial cells and Schwann cells in spinal cord injuries, both of which may hold the promise of repairing damaged nerve fibers. He has published several dozen articles and book chapters in neurosurgical journals and book atlases, and regularly presents at professional meetings.

Dr. Rak is a member of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons and the Congress of Neurological Surgeons.  He serves on the Executive Board of the Society for Brain Mapping & Therapeutics, one of the world’s leading multidisciplinary and translational neuroscience medical associations with a network of nearly 200,000 scientists, engineers, physicians and surgeons worldwide.  He will chair the Science Committee for the 15th annual World Brain Mapping and Therapeutics Congress, which will take place in New York in 2018.

The mission of the Suffolk County Medical Society is to act as the premier professional medical association for the physicians of Suffolk County by maintaining a representative and united organization to consider and act on matters affecting the practice of medicine and public health in the county; cultivating and advancing education in the science of medicine while maintaining a high standard of integrity, honor and courtesy in the medical profession; proactively identifying and responding to the evolving needs and interests of physician members by interacting with managed care organizations, third party payors, legislative and public interest groups and appropriate regulatory agencies; contributing to the professional and personal development of member physicians by representing the profession as a whole; serving as a resource for its members and assisting them in addressing the many issues and needs that they face in providing cost effective, high quality health care to their patients; preserving the doctor-patient relationship while assuring access to quality medical care for all; and acting as an advocate for patients in dealing with health related issues.