Brian Dlouhy, assistant professor of neurosurgery and member of the Pappajohn Biomedical Institute, has been named the first Getch Scholar by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and the Congress of Neurosurgeons.

Imagine a neurosurgeon completing a complicated, 10-hour surgery without ever looking directly at the patient’s brain or the tumor that’s being removed.

The recent Ebola outbreak in West Africa has claimed more than 11,300 lives and starkly revealed the lack of effective options for treating or preventing the disease. Progress has been made on developing vaccines, but there is still a need for antiviral therapies to protect health care workers and local populations in the event of future outbreaks.