Mark N. Hadley, M.D., professor in the Division of Neurosurgery in the University of Alabama at Birmingham Heersink School of Medicine, has been named to a six-year term as a director of the American Board of Neurological Surgery.

ABNS is the primary professional organization in the field of neurosurgery and is the agency that approves board-certification for neurosurgeons. ABNS also works to maintain and elevate professional standards in the field and encourage the study and improve the practice of neurosurgery.

"Selection as a director of the ABNS is a great honor that brings with it great responsibility," said James Markert, M.D., Ph.D., division director for neurosurgery at UAB. "Mark Hadley is an outstanding choice to advance the goals of the ABNS, as he has demonstrated time and again throughout his career that he is a superlative surgeon, educator and researcher."

Hadley is the fourth member of the UAB faculty to have been selected as a director of the ABNS, joining J. Garber Galbraith, M.D., Griffith R. Harsh, III, M.D., and Richard B. Morawetz, M.D.

"Drs. Galbraith, Harsh and Morawetz were pioneers in the field of neurosurgery, and I'm humbled to be included in their company," said Hadley, the Charles A. and Patsy W. Collat Professor of Neurological Surgery at UAB. "The field of neurosurgery at UAB has a long history of excellence, and I'm gratified to be able to represent the institution on this national level."

Hadley is internationally recognized in the study and treatment of spinal-cord injuries. He is the lead author of three specialty medical evidence-based scientific compilations of guidelines for the management of spinal disorders.

Hadley earned his medical degree from Albany Medical College in Albany, N.Y. He conducted post-graduate internship and residency training at the University of California, Davis and Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix. He joined the UAB faculty in 1991.

He directs the Neurological Surgery Residency Training Program at UAB, and he also is a professor in the UAB Heersink School of Business Marketing and Industrial Distribution program. Hadley has published more than 170 peer-reviewed articles in professional journals and chapters in medical textbooks.