She is the first woman to head a neurosurgery department at any medical school in the US.[2] She specializes in brain and spinal cord abnormalities.[3] She was a 2020 electee to the National Academy of Medicine in pediatric neurosurgery.[4]
Early life and education
She was born June 19,[5] 1955[6] in Jersey City, New Jersey and learned to read at age five.[4] She has a spinal cord abnormality, spina bifida,[3][7] and underwent treatment as a child at Babies Hospital in New York, the same hospital where she would later also spend her residency.[4]
She graduated with a B.S. at Yale University in 1977 with a major in history and biology.[6][5] Muraszko obtained her medical degree from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1981.[6][5] She initially intended to specialize in psychiatry but switched to neurological surgery in her third year.[7] She was the first neurosurgery resident with a physical disability at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center where the chairman of the neurological surgery department described her as "...the most outstanding person I've met in medicine" and further "...her intelligence, tenacity and motivation have enabled her to make a remarkable contribution to the care of our patients".[6] She was the first woman admitted, in 1981, into the neurosurgery residency at Columbia's New York Neurological Institute.[4] She completed her residency in 1988.[8]
Career
From 1988 to 1990 Muraszko worked as a Senior Staff Fellow at the National Institutes of Health-NINDS. She moved to the University of Michigan in 1990 where she headed the pediatric neurosurgery service from 1995.[9] She became a professor in 2003.[4] During her time teaching, among her neurosurgical students was Sanjay Gupta.[10] In 2005 she became chair of the Department of Neurosurgery,[9] in the process becoming the first woman to chair a neurosurgery department in the United States.[2][4]
She is the medical director of "Project Shunt", the neurosurgery component of an annual medical mission by the Michigan, Ohio, chapter of the medical charity "Healing the Children" to Guatemala, which has one of the highest incidences of spina bifida in the world.[11] She began leading the mission at the University of Michigan in 1998, leading a team of surgeons, residents and nurses in Guatemala City.[4]
Research
Muraszko is a specialist in pediatric neurosurgery. Her main interests are treating brain tumors, Chiari malformations, congenital spinal and brain abnormalities and complex craniofacial anomalies.[12]
Lee, Do Kyeong; Muraszko, Karin; Ulrich, Beverly D. (2016). "Bone Mineral Content in Infants With Myelomeningocele, With and Without Treadmill Stepping Practice". Pediatric Physical Therapy. 28 (1): 24–32. doi:10.1097/PEP.0000000000000217. PMID27088680. S2CID25293819.
Kung, Theodore A.; Vercler, Christian J.; Muraszko, Karin M.; Buchman, Steven R. (March 2016). "Endoscopic Strip Craniectomy for Craniosynostosis". Journal of Craniofacial Surgery. 27 (2): 293–298. doi:10.1097/SCS.0000000000002364. PMID26886293. S2CID19654793.
Oldfield, Edward H.; Muraszko, Karin; Shawker, Thomas H.; Patronas, Nicholas J. (January 1994). "Pathophysiology of syringomyelia associated with Chiari I malformation of the cerebellar tonsils". Journal of Neurosurgery. 80 (1): 3–15. doi:10.3171/jns.1994.80.1.0003. PMID8271018.
Yew, Andrew Y.; Maher, Cormac O.; Muraszko, Karin M.; Garton, Hugh J.L. (2011). "Long-Term Health Status in Benign External Hydrocephalus". Pediatric Neurosurgery. 47 (1): 1–6. doi:10.1159/000322357. PMID21778677. S2CID22431060.
Lien, Samuel C.; Maher, Cormac O.; Garton, Hugh J. L.; Kasten, Steven J.; Muraszko, Karin M.; Buchman, Steven R. (2 March 2010). "Local and regional flap closure in myelomeningocele repair: a 15-year review". Child's Nervous System. 26 (8): 1091–1095. doi:10.1007/s00381-010-1099-9. PMID20195618. S2CID6038548.
Al-Holou, Wajd N.; Yew, Andrew Y.; Boomsaad, Zackary E.; Garton, Hugh J. L.; Muraszko, Karin M.; Maher, Cormac O. (June 2010). "Prevalence and natural history of arachnoid cysts in children". Journal of Neurosurgery: Pediatrics. 5 (6): 578–585. doi:10.3171/2010.2.PEDS09464. PMID20515330.
Muraszko, KM; Garton, H; Song, DK (2008). "Training in pediatric neurosurgery". Journal of Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine. 1 (1): 47–9. PMID21791740.
Warschausky, S; Angobaldo, J; Kewman, D; Buchman, S; Muraszko, KM; Azengart, A (May 2005). "Early development of infants with untreated metopic craniosynostosis". Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. 115 (6): 1518–23. doi:10.1097/01.prs.0000160270.27558.64. PMID15861054. S2CID23043522.
Kahn, Elyne N.; Muraszko, Karin M.; Maher, Cormac O. (October 2015). "Prevalence of Chiari I Malformation and Syringomyelia". Neurosurgery Clinics of North America. 26 (4): 501–507. doi:10.1016/j.nec.2015.06.006. PMID26408058.