Fred J. Epstein (July 26, 1937 – July 9, 2006) was a pediatric neurosurgeon credited for the development of pioneering neurosurgical techniques to treat children threatened by brain and spinal-cord tumors.

Education

Born in

Yonkers, New York Yonkers () is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States. Developed along the Hudson River, it is the third most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City and Buffalo. The population of Yonkers was 211,569 as enu ...

, he graduated from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

and

New York Medical College New York Medical College (NYMC or New York Med) is a private medical school in Valhalla, New York. Founded in 1860, it is a member of the Touro College and University System. NYMC offers advanced degrees through its three schools: the School o ...

. He did his internship and surgical residency at

Montefiore Medical Center Montefiore Medical Center is a premier academic medical center and the primary teaching hospital of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, New York City. Its main campus, the Henry and Lucy Moses Division, is located in the Norwoo ...

in the

Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

and his neurosurgical residency at

Bellevue Medical Center Bellevue Medical Center ( ar, مستشفى ومركز بلفو الطبي , BMC) founded in July 2009, is a general hospital located in Mansourieh, Lebanon. It offers healthcare services in many specialties. The hospital has a capacity of 130 ...

, while serving in the Army reserves, under the tutelage of

Joseph Ransohoff Dr. Joseph Ransohoff, II (July 1, 1915 – January 30, 2001) was a member of the Ransohoff family and a pioneer in the field of neurosurgery. In addition to training numerous neurosurgeons, his "ingenuity in adapting advanced technologies" saved ...

Career

In 1983, he was named professor of neurosurgery at

(NYU) and two years later director of the division of pediatric neurosurgery by Ransohoff, his former mentor. It was there that he saw the resemblance of operable tumors in the

cerebellum The cerebellum (Latin for "little brain") is a major feature of the hindbrain of all vertebrates. Although usually smaller than the cerebrum, in some animals such as the mormyrid fishes it may be as large as or even larger. In humans, the cerebel ...

and, until then, inoperable ones in the brain stem. He likened the technique he developed to removing lead from a

pencil A pencil () is a writing or drawing implement with a solid pigment core in a protective casing that reduces the risk of core breakage, and keeps it from marking the user's hand. Pencils create marks by physical abrasion, leaving a trail ...

, the pencil being the

spinal cord The spinal cord is a long, thin, tubular structure made up of nervous tissue, which extends from the medulla oblongata in the brainstem to the lumbar region of the vertebral column (backbone). The backbone encloses the central canal of the spi ...

. He founded the division of pediatric neurosurgery at New York University Medical Center, and he was the founding director of the Institute for Neurology and Neurosurgery (INN) at Beth Israel Hospital in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. He was president of the International Society of Pediatric Neurosurgery and the American Society of Pediatric Neurosurgery. He published more than 175 scholarly papers and was

editor in chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...

of '' The Journal of Pediatric Neurosurgery''. In 2001, the American Association of Neurological Surgeons awarded him its Lifetime Achievement Award. He wrote two books for general readers: "If I Get to Five" and "Gifts of Time". He was the subject of three segments of “20/20” and made news by operating on the son of the Yankee pitcher Tommy John and on a Tibetan monk for whom the

Dalai Lama Dalai Lama (, ; ) is a title given by the Tibetan people to the foremost spiritual leader of the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" school of Tibetan Buddhism, the newest and most dominant of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The 14th and current Dal ...

prayed at the institute. In 1997, he operated on a millionaire's pug in exchange for a donation to help pay for surgery that Epstein then performed on a 5-year-old boy from rural Pennsylvania. In September 2001, he suffered a brain injury due to a bicycle accident, which forced him to retire from active practice. He continued to advise on neurological matters for the

Miami Children's Hospital Nicklaus Children's Hospital formerly known as Miami Children's Hospital is a hospital for children in South Florida. The hospital has 289 beds. It is affiliated with the FIU Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine, Nova Southeastern University, and ...

until his death due to

melanoma Melanoma, also redundantly known as malignant melanoma, is a type of skin cancer that develops from the pigment-producing cells known as melanocytes. Melanomas typically occur in the skin, but may rarely occur in the mouth, intestines, or eye ( ...

Quotation

''The question, "Why do children suffer?" has no answer, unless it's simply, "To break our hearts." Once our hearts get broken, they never fully heal. They always ache. But perhaps a broken heart is a more loving instrument. Perhaps only after our hearts have cracked wide open, have finally and totally unclenched, can we truly know love without boundaries.''

References

External links

NY Times ObituaryA Boy, a Dog and Their NeurosurgeonAANS Lifetime Achievement AwardThe Society of Neurological Surgeons Profile"What'll Become of Fred?"
Reader's Digest, February 1994 {{DEFAULTSORT:Epstein, Fred 1937 births 2006 deaths Deaths from melanoma American neurosurgeons American pediatricians People from Yonkers, New York 20th-century surgeons