Dr. Keith Lanier Black, M.D.

Dr. Keith Lanier Black, M.D.

Biographical Information

Born in 1957 in Auburn, Alabama. His father inspired him by giving him frogs,

chicken hearts, and cow hearts to dissect. He has always loved science and once blew

up his family’s kitchen with his chemistry set.

Biographical Information

In the eighth grade his family moved from Tuskegee, Alabama to Cleveland, Ohio and he began to hang out in the labs at Case Western Reserve University.

In high school he worked in a research lab doing organ transplants and heart valve replacements in dogs.

Graduated from high school in 1975.

Biographical Information

At the age of 17 he published his first scientific paper on the damage done to blood cells in patients with heart valve replacements, which won the Westinghouse Science Award.

Since then he has published more than 100 scientific papers and has presented at nearly 200 professional meetings.

Racism

His father, Robert Black, was principal of the segregated Boykin Street Elementary School in Auburn, Alabama, during the George Wallace era.

When his father could not integrate the students, he integrated the faculty.

When his sons wanted to swim in the all – white pool he told them to do it.

Higher Education

Dr. Black completed an accelerated program at the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor and received his undergraduate and medical degrees in only six years.

He also completed his internship in general surgery and his residency in neurological surgery at the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor.

Professional Career

Served o the University of California, Los Angeles faculty for ten years where he was Professor of Neurosurgery.

In 1992 he was awarded the Ruth and Raymond Stotter Chair in the Department of Surgery and he was Head of the UCLA Comprehensive Brain Tumor Program.

Professional Career

In 1997 he joined the Cedars – Sinai Medical Center and was awarded the Ruth and Lawrence Harvey Chair in Neurosciences.

He currently serves as Director of Neurosurgery and Director of the Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute at Cedars – Sinai Medical Center.

Professional Career

Dr. Black is also a professor and chairman of Department of Neurological Surgery at the University of California, Irvine Medical Center.

He is also a member of several medical organizations and he is the founder of the North American Skull Base Society.

He also serves on the editorial boards of several leading neuroscience journals.

Neurosurgeon

Dr. Black is a renowned brain tumor specialist and he averages 250 operations a year.

Patients are referred to him from across the globe; Europe, the Middle East, Australia, South America, and Japan.

Neurosurgeon

Dr. Black is very careful in his treatment of the brain. Before he operates he maps out the brain using functional magnetic resonance imaging.

Neurosurgeon

This type of MRI gives a three dimensional image of the brain and lets Dr. Black see where the boundary between the malignancy and the eloquent brain is. This type of MRI also allows him to map the best route through the brain to the tumor.

Neurosurgeon

Since the brain can swell and contract during surgery he uses techniques called somatosensory – evoked potentials and direct potentials to recheck the boundaries.

Neurosurgeon

This process is like an electrician testing a circuit.

He applies a mild electric current to the body and then he touches the brain.

Whenever he picks up a current he knows where not to cut.

He also performs the reverse, stimulating the brain and watching for movement in the body.

Neurosurgeon

Dr. Black has also pioneered new surgical techniques such as skull – base surgery.

Dr. Black also developed a new treatment to kill brain cancers without surgery. He uses functional MRI to map the tumor and then the tumor is zapped using microwaves.

Researcher

Dr. Black is most well know, however for his discovery that bradykinin is very effective at opening the blood – brain barrier by making capillary walls leaky.

The great thing about bradykinin is that it only opens the barrier to the tumor, not to the rest of the brain, which greatly increases the effectiveness of chemotherapy.

Researcher

Dr. Black and his colleagues have also been developing a tumor vaccine.

A protein in the tumor called transforming growth factor beta, TGF beta, hides tumors from the body.

His team takes cancer cells from the tumor after surgery, genetically engineers them so that they cannot produce TGF beta and then reinjects them, as a vaccine, into the patient.

Researcher

This allows the body to mount an immune response that is specific to the tumor.

Researcher

His dream is to find a cure for malignant brain tumors.

The new techniques that Dr. Black has been developing could make cancer surgery of the brain obsolete.

Family Life

Dr. Black is married to Dr. Carol Bennett, a surgeon and urologist at UCLA. He met his wife in medical school.

He has two children and despite his busy schedule of surgery and research he sets several nights a week aside to talk with his children and spend time with them.

This type of balance is very important in life.

Mentoring

In order to get young people interested in science, Dr. Black and his staff developed a program called Brainworks, which gives seventh and eighth grade students an opportunity to visit the Neurological Institute.

Political Activist

Dr. Black has testified before the Senate to try and increase the funding for cancer research.

The entire budget for the National Cancer Institute is only 2.4 billion dollars(1997).

Our government spends equal that on one B1 bomber.

Indiana Black

Was nicknamed “Indiana Black” for his daring hobbies.

Has climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. Trekked through the Himalayas. Has been on safari and rafted down the

Zambezi River in Zimbabwe. He also sky dives and scuba dives.