LITTLE ROCK - CHI St. Vincent announces the grand opening of the new Arkansas Neuroscience Institute (ANI) Research and Education Center. The new facility will work to improve treatment outcomes for patients, map the human brain and provide training for neurosurgeons to develop the skills necessary to tackle the most complex cases. The center is the culmination of a $30-million project to develop new neurosurgery, education and research facilities in central Arkansas.
ANI Director Dr. Ali Krisht says the center will be a beacon to neurosurgeons around the world because it will become an oasis for all the thinkers and people who deal with neurosurgery to come learn and contribute knowledge.
The center includes the M.G. Yasargil Neurosurgical Research and Education Center and O. Al-Mefty Microneurosurgery Laboratory, named after two of Dr. Krisht's mentors and fellow recipients of the prestigious international Herbert Olivecrona Award for contributions to the field of neurosurgery. The laboratory features the only existing space where neurosurgeons can train using The Aboud Model: The Live Cadaver. Created by ANI's Dr. Emad Aboud, The Aboud Model circulates blood-like perfusate through a cadaver using a cardiac pump to simulate life-like conditions in terms of bleeding, pulsation and softness of tissue, providing surgeons the advanced training they need without the enhanced pressure of operating on a live patient.
The 150-seat Margaret Clark Auditorium is equipped with three large projectors using a combination of 3D and laser technologies to live stream neurosurgical procedures from the microscopic camera navigating areas of a patient's brain in the operating room. The resource allows students and fellow neurosurgeons to fully witness a surgery and see how the world's best neurosurgeons conduct procedures or address unexpected discoveries.
Construction of the ANI Research and Education Center was made possible in part thanks to $4-million in donations to the CHI St. Vincent Foundation. The project also included major renovations to CHI St. Vincent North, including four state of the art surgery rooms, advanced imaging resources, a helipad to reduce the transportation time for patients in need of immediate care and an expanded Intensive Care Unit to provide for the unique needs of neurosurgery patients. ANI currently treats patients from all 75 Arkansas counties, 38 states and countries around the world. An international symposium on The Future of Microneurosurgery will immediately follow the grand opening with presentations by experts in the field of ultra-microsurgery from 25 nations.
The ANI Research and Education Center was developed and designed by the NexCore Group and architects at Taggart Inc in coordination with the CHI Real Estate and Planning Office. The center was built by Clark Contractors.
