Dr. James T. Goodrich, the pediatric neurosurgeon who successfully led a team that separated 2-year-old conjoined twins in 2004, will give a talk about the history of children born joined at the head, a condition known as "craniopagus." Goodrich will discuss modern technology - including imaging, 3-D reconstructions and holograms - that can help surgeons separate these twins with minimal complications. Goodrich attended UC Irvine as an undergraduate, studying under James L. McGaugh, research professor of neurobiology and behavior. Today, Goodrich is director of the Division of Pediatric Neurosurgery at Montefiore Medical Center in New York.

DATE:
Friday, May 11, 2007

TIME:
Noon

LOCATION:
Dale Melbourne Herklotz Conference Center, Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, UCI campus.

BACKGROUND:
Carl and Clarence Aguirre, born in 2002 conjoined at the top of their heads, were brought to the United States from the Philippines in 2003 to be surgically separated. Doctors led by Goodrich successfully separated them in several small surgeries, finishing in August 2004. Goodrich pioneered this multi-stage approach, which allows the twins to recuperate between surgeries. One-surgery separations have historically led to high complication and death rates.

Goodrich received his bachelor's degree in biological sciences at UCI in 1974 and, this week, he will receive a Distinguished Alumnus Award. He has published more than 65 journal articles, mostly on neurosurgery and a few on medical history and vintage wines. Goodrich has edited four textbooks, and he is a peer reviewer for more than 20 journals.

This talk is hosted by the UCI Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory (CNLM) and supported by an endowment from the Thomas Henry Curtis Fund. CNLM is an internationally known institute dedicated to the multidisciplinary investigation of how the brain processes information and makes and stores memories.