The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) College of Medicine named Deanna Sasaki-Adams, MD, MBA, as chair of the Department of Neurosurgery, effective March 1.
A noted vascular and skull base neurosurgeon, Sasaki-Adams currently serves as the Department of Neurosurgery’s vice chair of Quality and Clinical Operations, medical director of UAMS neurosurgery services, and associate program director for the Neurosurgery Residency Program. She also holds a professor faculty appointment in the department.
“Dr. Sasaki-Adams will provide strong and innovative leadership for our clinical, educational and research programs in neurosurgery,” said Steven Webber, MD, dean of the College of Medicine and executive vice chancellor. “She has already excelled in many leadership roles at UAMS and the University of North Carolina.”
Sasaki-Adams joined UAMS in 2023 from the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill, where she served as the section chief of cerebrovascular and skull base neurosurgery.
Sasaki-Adams received a medical degree at the University of Wisconsin Medical School. She completed a neurosurgery residency at UNC, serving as chief resident in her final year. She completed a fellowship in skull base and open cerebrovascular neurosurgery at Saint Louis University before joining the UNC faculty in 2011. She continued her training with a fellowship in interventional neuroradiology at UNC in 2013-2015. She earned a Master of Business Administration in the Global Executive MBA Program at the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University in 2023.
Sasaki-Adams replaces John D. Day, MD, as chair. T. Glenn Pait, MD, director of the UAMS Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, served as interim chair.