Virany Huynh Hillard, M.D.
Assistant Professor

Dr. Hillard is Assistant Professor of Neurological Surgery and attending neurosurgeon at the University of Washington School of Medicine. She received her undergraduate degree from Harvard University in 1995 and her medical degree from New York University in 1999. Dr. Hillard completed her surgical internship and neurosurgical residency training at New York Medical College, where she also spent a year as a research fellow in the Spinal Cord Injury Laboratory.

In 2005-06, she completed a Spine Fellowship through the neurosurgical and orthopedics departments at University of Utah in Salt Lake City, where she acquired skills in cranial-cervical junction instability, minimally invasive techniques, spinal oncology, thoracoscopic surgery and degenerative deformities of the spine.

Her specialties are multidisciplinary approach to the treatment of spinal disorders and spinal cord injuries.

Patient Care:

- Complex spinal surgery
- Minimally invasive spinal surgery
- Spinal cord injury
- General neurosurgery

Dr. Hillard's clinical practice includes all aspects of spinal neurosurgery from tumor to deformity.

Dr. Hillard evaluates patients with spinal disorders on Mondays and Wednesday in the Neurosurgery Clinic Pavilion at the University of Washington Medical Center. Appointments may be scheduled by contacting the Department of Neurological Surgery at 206-598-9468.

Research:

Spinal Cord Injury- Dr. Hillard is continuing her investigation of agents that improve locomotor function and spare spinal cord tissue in a rat model of contusion injury such as Tempol, a nitroxide antioxidant, Hyperbaric oxygen, and X-irradiation.

Education and Training:

1995 B.A. in Biological Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

1999 M.D. cum laude, New York University, New York, NY

1999-00 Internship in General Surgery, Department of Surgery, New York Medical College, Valhalla, NY

2000-05 Resident in Neurosurgery, Department of Neurosurgery, New York Medical College, Valhalla, NY

2002-03 Research, Spinal Cord Injury Laboratory, Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy, New York Medical College, Valhalla, NY

2005-06 Neurosurgical and Orthopedic Spine Fellowship, Department of Neurosurgery and Orthopedic, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT

Honors and Awards:

Semi-finalist, Westinghouse 50th Science Talent Search Competition, 1991

Charles and Eileen Lowe Career Decision Fund Recipient, Summer Research Fund at University of North Carolina, 1992

New York University Research Grant, Research in Neuropathology at University of British Columbia with Dr. Dorouvini-Zis, 1997

Rosenbluth Foundation. Funding for travel in Thailand at Mahidol University, 1999

First Prize, New York State Society Resident Research Competition, 2003

Synthes Award for Research on Spinal Cord and Spinal Column Injury, 2004

Selected Publications:

Manuscripts-

Hillard VH, Musunuru K, Nwagwu C, Das K, Murali R, Zablow B, Hirschfeld A: Treatment of an anterior communicating artery aneurysm through an anomalous anastomosis from the cavernous internal carotid artery. Case report. Journal of Neurosurgery 97:1432-1435, 2002.

Musunuru K, Hillard VH, Murali R: Widespread central nervous system cavernous malformations associated with café-au-lait skin lesions. Journal of Neurosurgery 99:412-415, 2003.

Hillard VH, Shih LL, Chin S, Moorthy CR, Benzil DL: Safety of multiple stereotactic radiosurgery treatments for multiple brain lesions. Journal of Neuro-Oncology 63:271-278, 2003.
Hillard VH, Musunuru K, Zia Z, Hasan I, Hirschfeld A: Long-term management of bilateral metastases of renal cell carcinoma to the choroid plexus. Acta Neurochirurgica (Wein) 145(9):793-7, 2003.

Omeis I, DeMattia JA, Hillard VH, Murali M, Das K: History of instrumentation for stabilization of the subaxial cervical spine. Neurosurgical Focus 16(1): Article 10, 2004. www.aans.org/education/journal/neurosurgical/jan04/16-1-10.pdf.

Hillard VH, Peng H, Zhang Y, Das K, Murali R, Etlinger JD, Zeman RJ: Tempol, a nitroxide antioxidant, improves locomotor and histological outcomes after spinal cord contusion in rats. Journal of Neurotrauma 21:1405-1414, 2004.

Hornyak M, Hillard VH, Nwagwu C, Zablow BC, Murali R: Ruptured intrasellar superior hypophyseal artery aneurysm presenting with pure subdural hematoma. Case report. Interventional Radiology 10:55-58, 2004.

Hillard VH, Liu JK, Kwok A, Schmidt MH: Perineural Spread of Malignant Mesothelioma Resulting in an Intradural Spinal Cord Mass: Case Report. J Neurooncol, 2006.

Omeis I, Hillard VH, Braun A, Benzil DL, Murali R, Harter DH: Meningioangiomatosis Associated with Neurofibromatosis: Report of 2 Cases in a Single Family and Review of the Literature. Surg Neurol 65:595-603, 2006.

Keene JR, Hillard VH, Murali R, Geldzahler G: Intraorbital epidermoid tumors: A case report and a review of the literature. Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, 2005 (in press).

Hillard VH, Dwivedi N, Jamoona A, Meiteles L, Geldzahler G, Murali R. Hypoglossal Facial Anastomosis Using NeuraGen tube: A Case Report and Literature Search. Journal of Neurosurgery. (submitted).

Hillard VH, Apfelbaum RI: Cervical myelopathy focus Issue- Surgical management of cervical myelopathy: Indications and techniques for multilevel cervical discectomy. The Spine Journal. (accepted).

Hillard VH, Fassett D, Apfelbaum RI: The Use of allograft Bone for Posterior C1-2 Fusion. Spine (submitted)