Damirez T. Fossett Fund
Fund Purpose: To provide funding to students at HBCU medical schools to support educational opportunities in neurosurgery, residency applications and the interview process.
Damirez T. Fossett, MD, FAANS, FACS, a native of Baltimore, Maryland, earned his BS degree in Biology from Yale University in 1985 and his MD from The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1989. He began his residency at George Washington University under the tutelage of Dr. Edward R. Laws and completed it under Dr. Laligam Sekhar in 1996.
After completing his residency, Dr. Fossett served as Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery and Director of the Ammerman Microneurosurgical Lab at George Washington University. He has been Chief of the Division of Neurosurgery at the Howard University College of Medicine since 2010.
Dr. Fossett is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and a Diplomat of the American Board of Neurological Surgery. He is a Fellow of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, the Congress of Neurological Surgeons, and an Examiner for the American Board of Neurological Surgery. His clinical interests include Neuroanatomy, neuro-oncology, degenerative spine disease, and neuro-trauma. Dr. Fossett has authored numerous papers and abstracts on neuroanatomy and has co-edited and contributed to a book on Operative Neurosurgical Anatomy.
In addition to his clinical work, Dr. Fossett has a strong passion for teaching and mentoring medical students and residents. He distinguished himself as an educator early in his career by receiving the American Medical Association’s Golden Apple Teaching award as an intern from the GW medical school class of 1991 and winning the Hugo V. Rizzoli Award for excellence in neurosurgical residency training in 1993 by publishing a short monograph on aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage. More recently, he received the 2023 CNS Educator of the Year award, where he remarked, “When one teaches, two learn.” He was also honored with the Faculty of the Year award from the HUCM class of 2024.
Dr. Fossett is a co-founder and one of the Co-moderators of the Howard University-Mayo Clinic Neurosurgery Student Journal Club, which began in 2021. He has sponsored the Howard University AANS student chapter since its inception and the HUCM AANS Annual Neuroscience Symposium for the past 3 years. Additionally, he serves as the President of the DC ThinkFirst Injury Prevention Chapter. Dr. Fossett has dedicated his entire career to mentoring medical students and promoting educational enrichment in the field of neurosurgery at HBCUs. He continues to embody his philosophy: Aspire to Inspire.
To view a list of all donors to this fund, click here.
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To provide tuition support for Neurosurgery Chief Residents to take the Goodman Oral Boards Course