Debbie Romano Memorial Foundation
Research Scholarship – 2002
 The Debbie Romano Memorial Foundation has awarded a Research Scholarship to Goutham Reddy, a second-year student at Drexel University College of Medicine. He will spend this summer working in the laboratory of Christos D. Katsetos, M.D., Ph..D., MRCPath, in the Section of Neurology at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children. Mr. Reddy and Dr. Katsetos will be studying cellular and molecular aspects of the microtubule cytoskeleton in human brain tumors, with emphasis on gliomas and medulloblastomas.
Brain tumors are the most common solid tumors of childhood, and medulloblastoma is the most common malignant childhood brain tumor. Thanks to intensive laboratory and clinical research over the past 20 years, the outlook for children with medulloblastoma has improved remarkably. Roughly 70% of all children with this condition are alive 5 years after diagnosis, and the great majority of these survivors are actually cured of their disease. Research continues to find ways to improve survival rates and minimize the adverse effects of treatment.
The Debbie Romano Memorial Foundation was founded by family and friends to honor the memory of Debbie Romano, a 1989 graduate of Drexel University. The mission of the Foundation is to improve the lives of children with brain tumors and other chronic neurological conditions through service and research.
Drexel University College of Medicine
Annual Research Day – 9 October 2002
The poster "Alterations of gamma-tubulin cellular distribution in human gliomas: Implication of centrosome amplification in malignant tumor progression" won an Honorable Mention in the Drexel University College of Medicine's Discover 2002 Annual Research Day competition. The work was performed by Goutham Reddy, a second-year student in the College of Medicine, under the supervision of Dr. Christos Katsetos at St. Christopher's Hospital for Children. Mr. Reddy was the 2002 Debbie Romano Memorial Foundation Research Scholar.
St. Christopher's Hospital for Children
Level 1 Pediatric Trauma Center Accreditation
PHILADELPHIA, PA (March 7, 2003) – St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children announced today that they have earned designation as a Regional Level I Pediatric Trauma Center, becoming only the third pediatric trauma center in the state of Pennsylvania and the second in the region. They may start receiving patients on March 17, 2003.
 “This accreditation is a result of our full commitment of resources and our highly specialized staff who are dedicated to providing the best medical and surgical trauma care for children,” says Jeffrey Green, Chief Executive Officer.
As a Regional Level I Pediatric Trauma Center, St. Christopher’s Trauma One will be ready 24 hours a day, seven days a week to receive and treat the most severely injured children. The most common reasons for pediatric trauma are vehicle-related injuries – children riding in or struck by cars or bicycles – and burns. St. Christopher’s is the only pediatric hospital burn center in the mid-Atlantic region.
“Trauma is the leading cause of death and disability in children, so it was important to us to attain this benchmark,” notes Matthew Moront, M.D., Director of Trauma. “Now that St. Christopher’s is a Regional Level I Pediatric Trauma Center, we are able to offer children in our region, especially those in northeastern Philadelphia a much shorter distance to travel to reach a pediatric regional resource center. We also are better positioned to offer more research, resources and educational programs for the prevention and treatment of traumatic injuries.”
This prestigious designation was awarded to St. Christopher’s Hospital by the Pennsylvania Trauma Systems Foundation, a non-profit organization governing trauma centers in Pennsylvania. St. Christopher’s had to meet 37 standards established by the Pennsylvania Trauma Systems Foundation and has to have the capability and capacity to fulfill these responsibilities on a continuing basis. The Hospital committed more than $1 million in resources to this initiative, which includes major renovations to its Emergency Department to support trauma.
Kirsten Johnson-Moore, R.N., M.S.N., Director of Emergency Nursing Services, explains that the hospital’s program covers all phases of care, including resuscitation and stabilization in the Emergency Department, surgical care when necessary, inpatient critical care and rehabilitation. “A Level I Pediatric Trauma Center serves as a regional resource not only for treatment, but for trauma research advocacy and professional education,” she states.
Founded in 1875, St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children has built a reputation for innovation and excellence in pediatric medicine. One of the nation’s leading medical centers for children, St. Christopher’s 183-bed facility includes an acute care hospital, two ambulatory care areas, a teaching and education center, research laboratories and a medical office building. The hospital also serves as a regional referral center for children from throughout the Delaware Valley and from around the world.
For more than 125 years, St. Christopher’s Hospital has remained dedicated to providing compassionate, individualized and high-quality care to the children it serves.
St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children is affiliated with Tenet Healthcare Corporation.
Chronic Care Coordinator
Section of Neurosurgery
With the support of the Debbie Romano Memorial Foundation, the Section of Neurosurgery at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children is pleased to be able to offer the services of a dedicated social worker for chronic care coordination.
Many children with life-long neurological conditions obtain care through the Section of Neurosurgery or through related multidisciplinary programs. To enjoy lives that are as full as they can be, these children may need services and support far beyond the expert medical care that the specialists at St. Christopher’s can provide. They and their families may need special educational programs, special accommodations in housing, assistance in transportation, durable medical equipment, various therapy services, mental health services, and the emotional support that only similarly affected children and their families can provide. Few of these needs can be met in the hospital, so the medical care that the hospital provides must be connected with services provided by community physicians and other care providers, schools, social service agencies, medical equipment vendors, and support groups. The Chronic Care Coordinator makes this link.
The Chronic Care Coordinator provides the services of the social worker to patients of the Section of Neurosurgery in the hospital, in the clinic, and in the child’s home community. Because particular neurosurgical conditions are commonly associated with particular issues and obstacles to care, the Coordinator can anticipate some needs. But the Coordinator is also available as a resource to be tapped as needs arise by community physicians and other providers, by schools, and by families themselves.
Children with the following sorts of neurosurgical conditions may benefit from the services of the Chronic Care Coordinator:
- Brain tumors
- Hydrocephalus
- Spina bifida
- Cerebral palsy
- Craniosynostosis and other craniofacial deformities
- Traumatic brain and spinal cord injury
- Syringomyelia
- Brachial plexus injury.
The responsibilities of the Chronic Care Coordinator on behalf of patients and families with special care needs include:
- Assessment of the needs of children and families for educational services, mental-health services, financial assistance, childcare, and for assistance overcoming any obstacles for delivery of necessary medical care.
- Referrals to community resources.
- Mental health status evaluations.
- Post-diagnosis adjustment counseling.
- Continued supportive counseling and follow-up for those patients exhibiting difficulty with coping skills.
Contact the Chronic Care Coordinator at (215) 427-3827.
Section Chief Piatt Edits Textbook
In May 2004 WB Saunders released Pediatric Neurosurgery, a volume in the Pediatric Clinics of North America series guest-edited by Joseph H. Piatt, M.D., FAAP, Chief of the Section of Neurosurgery at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children. This text is a brief survey of pediatric neurosurgery intended to be useful to pediatricians and other primary-care physicians who must recognize, counsel, and refer children with neurosurgical conditions. Dr. Piatt contributed the following 4 chapters, which can be viewed as Adobe Acrobat .pdf files:
Drexel University College of Medicine
Annual Research Day – 4 May 2004
The poster "Image-Guided Craniofacial Reconstructive Surgery” was hung at the Drexel University Annual Research Day 2004 competition. Graduate student Binil Starly prepared this poster, which describes the conjunction of computer-assisted design methods, stereolithographic technology, and a commercial intraoperative surgical image-guidance system. Virtual craniofacial reconstructive surgery can be performed at a workstation, and the ideal reconstruction can be compared quantitatively with the actual reconstruction in the operating room on a real-time basis. Also participating in this work were Joseph Piatt and Eric Faerber from the College of Medicine and Wei Sun from the College of Engineering.
 On August 11 2005, the pediatric neurosurgical community lost one of its most dedicated and promising young neurosurgeons. Dr. Samuel R. "Skip" Neff, 46, a brilliant pediatric and adult neurosurgeon, died of coronary artery disease at his home in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. He is survived by his wife Janine, their sons Robert, Jonathan and Daniel; his mother, Jane Neff; and brothers, Alan and Marc, and his passing is mourned by colleagues and friends at St Christopher’s Hospital for Children and at Drexel University and by many others as well.
Dr. Neff earned bachelor's degrees in physics and astronomy in 1980 from Haverford College, and he received his M.D. degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He trained in neurosurgery at Tufts/New England Medical Center under the direction of Dr William Shucart, and he cultivated his interest in pediatric neurosurgery at the Boston Floating Children’s Hospital under the tutelage of Dr Alan Cohen. During his residency training his engagement with pediatric medicine was reinforced by the birth of 3 sons, each appearing on the scene at varying stages of prematurity. He spent his training years on the run, from his wife’s side in the NICU, to the ward, to the laboratory, and back again. Even among his peers in neurosurgical training, his neglect of sleep was notable.
His subsequent career exhibited a distinct arc from an initial general practice of neurosurgery with an interest in pediatrics, through several gradations of increasing pediatric commitment, to full-time practice of pediatric neurosurgery. He began his career in 1991 in Camden, New Jersey, on the staff of Cooper University Hospital and on the faculty of the New Jersey College of Medicine and Dentistry. He practiced at various times at Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center in Camden and at the Pennsylvania Hospital and the Graduate Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1997 he responded to a desperate call from St Christopher’s Hospital for Children, at that time entangled in the bankruptcy proceedings of its corporate parent, to provide neurosurgical services in the wake of the abrupt departure of previous staff. Having instantly won the gratitude of the staff at St Christopher’s, he went on to win their respect as well for his cheerful, vigorous, and skillful service. He gradually relinquished his adult practice, and at the time of his death, he and his friend and associate, Dr Joseph Piatt, were serving both St Christopher’s Hospital for Children and Temple University Children’s Medical Center.
Dr Neff was an astonishing autodidact and, in the words of the director of a Philadelphia venture capital firm, a “genuine serial inventor.” During 13 years in the private or corporate practice of neurosurgery, he won research grants from the State of New Jersey, the National Science Foundation, and the National Institutes of Health, and participated as a clinical investigator in numerous others. He received five U.S. and foreign patents. One of his early inventions was a special floor tile to prevent hip fractures. LifeRAFT™ or “airbag linoleum” as he liked to call it, contains an airbag that deploys when it senses a person falling towards the floor. He held a patent on a permanently implantable Self-Contained Intracranial Pressure Sensor known as SCIPS™. SCIPS™ allows non-invasive ICP measurement so patients can be monitored outside an ICU or even at home. In 1992, when his nephew Spencer was born with hydrocephalus, he began research and development on a device to better assess shunt function. In 2004, Dr. Neff patented ShuntCheck™, an FDA-cleared, non-invasive device for measuring CSF flow through shunts. In 2004, he and his brother Alan founded Neuro Diagnostic Devices, the company that manufactures his invention ShuntCheck™. At the time of his death, Neuro Diagnostic Devices had several elaborations of ShuntCheck™ in various stages of development, including a battery-powered, permanently implantable version and a version with an alarm for alerting the patient to the cessation of CSF flow. His long-term vision encompassed an implantable device for measurement of ventricular volume. He hoped that in the next few years, with the use of his flow, pressure, and volume monitors, he would be able to build a model of how shunts operate over the lifetime of a patient. His monitoring systems would eventually form a foundation for the development of a “smart shunt” that would automatically adjust itself based on CSF flow, intracranial pressure, and ventricular size. At the time of his death, he was about to embark upon doctoral studies in Drexel University’s Biomedical Engineering Ph.D. program.
During the latter years of his career, his business venture with his brother Alan occupied an increasing fraction of his time, but to invert Jacob Morley’s comment to his former partner, Ebenezer Scrooge, mankind was Skip Neff’s business. Skip Neff left those who knew him with the extraordinary example of his joyful devotion of his considerable energy and talent to the relief of suffering of his fellow creatures. We miss him deeply.
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