About Our Team
Our team of specialists is among the most experienced in the country. Since opening in 1999, we also have become one of the busiest Gamma Knife centers in the country, having treated more than 2,500 patients through 2008.
The program was established in 1999 by radiation oncologist Edward G. Shaw, M.D. (who helped establish a similar program at the Mayo Clinic in 1989) and neurosurgeon Charles L. Branch, M.D. Stephen B. Tatter, M.D., Ph.D. was recruited from Harvard Medical School to be co-director of the Gamma Knife program.
Team members have received radiosurgery training at prestigious facilities like University of Pittsburgh, Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm, Sweden and University of Florida at Gainesville.
The team is comprised of specially-trained radiation oncologists, neurosurgeons, medical physicists and nurses who collaborate to create individualized treatments plans for each patient.
The Gamma Knife Team Team Videos
Co-chairs of the Gamma Knife Program
Stephen B. Tatter, M.D., Ph.D., Neurosurgery
Allan F. deGuzman, PhD., Radiological Physics
Team Members
Charles L. Branch, Jr., M.D., Neurosurgery
Thomas L. Ellis, M.D., Neurosurgery
Michael Chan, M.D., Radiation Oncology
Kevin McMullen, M.D., Radiation Oncology
Edward G. Shaw, M.D., Radiation Oncology
J. Daniel Bourland, Ph.D., Radiological Physics
Kenneth E. Ekstrand, Ph.D., Radiological Physics
Lisa Wilkins, R.N., Stereotactic Coordinator
Darrell Sloan, RT-R, CT, MR, Stereotactic Coordinator
Rodney Rogers, Stereotactic Technician
Monica Ditmer, PA-C, Physician Assistant for Dr. Ellis
Physicians may call the PAL line at 1-800-277-7654 to make a referral.
For more information regarding the Gamma Knife Program at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center or for assistance to make an appointment, please contact the Gamma Knife Coordinator - Lisa Wilkins, RN, at toll-free (866) 713-3228 or via email at liwilkin@wfubmc.edu.
Wake Forest University's Gamma Knife team is part of its Comprehensive Brain Tumor Program offering a multidisciplinary approach to treating people in a way that emphasizes aggressive lesion eradication and quality-of-life. For brain arteriovenous malformations (AVM), this goal is achieved by close collaboration with experts in the departments of Neurosurgery and Interventional Neuroradiology and uses the resources of the Wake Forest AVM Center.