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M. Gazi Yasargil, M.D., addresses conference-goers in a pre-recorded message from his home in Switzerland. Image by Bryan Clifton

UAMS Honors Famed Neurosurgeon, Nurse at Symposium

March 18, 2025 | A recent symposium honoring the legacy of M. Gazi Yasargil, M.D., an internationally renowned neurosurgeon who is often referred to as the “father of modern microneurosurgery” and who spent nearly 20 years at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), and his wife, Dianne Yasargil, a former UAMS nurse, drew an enthusiastic crowd to UAMS and the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts.

Each year, the UAMS Department of Neurosurgery presents the M. Gazi and Dianne C.H. Yasargil Distinguished Lectureship, but this year’s Centennial Symposium included four presentations and a panel discussion, in honor of the beloved professor’s 100^th birthday.

Deanna Sasaki-Adams, M.D., newly appointed chair of neurosurgery, welcomed a large group of neurosurgeons, residents, nurses and others to the special event.

Yasargil was named “Man of the Century 1950-1999” by the Congress of Neurological Surgeons for his groundbreaking contributions that significantly shaped the field of neurosurgery, particularly in vascular and brain surgery. He joined UAMS in 1994 and was advanced to professor emeritus status in 2013. His wife, Dianne, is a former UAMS researcher and nurse who developed a system for organizing surgical instruments and founded the European Association of Neurosciences Nurses.

As the event began on the evening of Feb. 27, Yasargil himself addressed lecturegoers assembled at the art center through a prerecorded video from his home in Switzerland.  Sasaki-Adams reviewed his legacy to neurosurgery and highlighted his time at UAMS.

Yasargil described being a serious student while studying in Europe, saying at one point, “I didn’t go to parties.” He said he discovered while in Switzerland that he wanted to be a neurosurgeon, and displayed a large, colorful model of the spinal cord that he made, saying, “I saw this model in my brain.”

During a well-attended dinner in the cultural living room of the museum, former Arkansas running back coach Danny Nutt, now 63, recalled a day in 2007 when he experienced a severe headache caused by bleeding in his brain stem. He was flown from Fayetteville to Little Rock to be operated on by Yasargil.

The brain hemorrhage would cause Nutt to resign from coaching, but in recalling the saga during the Friday night gathering, he thanked Yasargil for saving his life. Joining him at the podium were his older brother, Houston Nutt, who was head coach for the Razorbacks in 2007, and their mother, Emogene Nutt.

Colleagues, former residents and friends attended, to show their appreciation for the renowned neurosurgeon.

Neurosurgeons Allan Friedman, M.D., of Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, North Carolina, and Laligam Sekhar, M.D., of the University of Washington in Seattle, both of whom worked and learned under Yasargil, spoke about the surgical lessons they gained from him.  They demonstrated the learned surgical techniques through videos.

“He knew the brain like he knew the back of his hand,” Sekhar said of Yasargil. He also “was an absolute master of anatomy and technique.”

The following day, the symposium continued in the Fred Smith Auditorium in the Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute at UAMS, with talks by Saleem I. Abdulrauf, M.D., and Gail L. Rosseau, M.D., professors of neurosurgery at George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Washington, D.C., who both learned from the professor.

Abdulrauf worked under Yasargil for two years at UAMS before going to St. Louis to establish the Department of Neurosurgery at St. Louis University School of Medicine. He discussed lessons he learned from Yasargil, who wrote a famous textbook, Microneurosurgery: Applied to Neurosurgery, in 1969, and later wrote a forward for Abdulrauf’s first book.

“I may have given the impression that everything I learned from Dr. Yasargil was in the operating room, and that was not true,” Abdulrauf said, describing how he and Yasargil would pore over the details of published research papers.

Abdulrauf also remembered that while he was performing surgery, Dianne Yasargil paid such close attention that “she knew what instrument to use next,” and would have it ready for him before he could ask.

Rosseau said M. Gazi Yasargil had a mantra to “become great at what you do, for the benefit of your patient.” She said it amazed her how he never stopped learning, once looking over her shoulder during surgery and later telling her, “I learned something,” even though he was “the world’s greatest neurosurgeon.”

Her talk emphasized the need for working toward global neurosurgery “to suture the gap” in less-developed countries where neurosurgeons are desperately needed.

“I think global neurosurgery is the big, bold idea of our time, just like microneurosurgery was the big bold idea of Dr. Yasargil’s time,” she said. “Global partnerships are emerging as the way to move forward.”

“Professor Yasargil’s teachings and legacy continues to inspire surgeons worldwide,” said T. Glenn Pait, M.D., director of the UAMS Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute. “Professor’s years in Arkansas were a continuation of his lifelong mission to push the boundaries of what was surgically possible while training future degenerations to do the same.”

The Department of Neurosurgery is establishing an endowed chair in Neurosurgery dedicated to Professor M. Gaza Yasargil and Dianne C.H. Yasargil. “The Yasargil Chair will serve as the beacon for innovation, education and patient care, ensuring that their pioneering work continues to shape the next generation of neurosurgeons in Arkansas, the nation and worldwide,” Pait said.