{"id":122982,"date":"2025-06-16T02:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-16T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/?p=122982"},"modified":"2025-06-13T10:54:09","modified_gmt":"2025-06-13T15:54:09","slug":"william-thorell-md-is-new-chair-of-neurosurgery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/06\/16\/william-thorell-md-is-new-chair-of-neurosurgery\/","title":{"rendered":"William Thorell, MD, is new chair of neurosurgery"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

William Thorell, MD, has been named the new chair of the UNMC Department of Neurosurgery in the College of Medicine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The appointment is effective July 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Thorell, a neurosurgeon who describes himself as \u201ca teacher,\u201d said he was excited to be taking on this new role, noting that he has been part of the department since it was a division of the surgery department and he was a resident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat was when I met Dr. Lyal Leibrock<\/a> for the first time. I have a great deal of loyalty to and love for this department, so I’m excited but also humbled,\u201d Dr. Thorell said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Thorell serves as residency program director for the department, as well as co-director of the Stroke and Neurovascular Center at Nebraska Medicine, which he helped develop. He is a UNMC College of Medicine graduate who also did his internship and residency at UNMC, as well as a fellowship in endovascular neurosurgery at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His clinical work includes helping patients with trauma, tumors and peripheral disorders, and he is one of the most experienced neurosurgeons in the country specializing in complicated vascular disorders of the central nervous system, such as acute stroke, subarachnoid hemorrhage from cerebral aneurysms, vascular malformations (such as arteriovenous malformations and cerebral cavernous malformations), and occlusive disease of the carotid and vertebral arteries.\u00a0Dr. Thorell also helps care for children with vascular diseases of the brain and spinal cord.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His long association with the division-turned-department, dating to his internship in 1996, has given him a quiet pride in its strengths, which he lists as the clinical skills of the faculty, the strong residency program and a significantly improved research arm that continues to grow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re obviously a young department (the department was created in 2019), but we’re really rounding out,\u201d he said. He credited inaugural chair Aviva Abosch, MD, whom he will be replacing, for elevating the department to new levels during her tenure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Thorell said that, as he takes the role of chair, his goal is to have the department provide the highest level of clinical care and education while pushing forward the frontiers of neurosurgery through cutting-edge research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFirst and foremost, we’re going to take excellent care of our patients,\u201d he said. \u201cThat is the person who’s in front of you, but it also requires a longer view \u2013 training the next generation, pushing the boundaries with innovative treatments backed by research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen I look at what was considered state-of-the-art knowledge when I was a resident, there is critical information that has proven to be long lasting, but there\u2019s been quite a bit of progress, and there\u2019s still quite a way to go. We want to be part of that progress.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Thorell pointed to the work of J. Jay Keegan, MD<\/a> in dermatomes, patterns of sensory nerves in humans, and how the peripheral nerves and the spinal nerves are distributed. Eventually, Dr. Keegan worked with UNMC colleague Frederic Garrett, MD, to produce an influential map of dermatomes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt the time, such a map was a fairly revolutionary idea,\u201d Dr. Thorell said. \u201cNow, they\u2019re in every neurosurgery textbook. That’s a long-lasting legacy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also hopes to work with other investigators in forward-looking research, he said, pointing to existing work the department is doing with Tammy Kielian, PhD, of the UNMC Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen you take the best of the talents of the department and other people at the university, you can get a real synergy,\u201d he said. \u201cLooking ahead, I\u2019m excited by what we can achieve.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr. Thorell is excited about the UNMC Department of Neurosurgery and his new role, which he will begin on July 1.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":122984,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"52034,61434,70480,43605,53374,96533","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-122982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","topic-education","topic-inside-unmc","topic-patient-care","department-college-of-medicine","department-neurosurgery","department-unmc-front-page","department-unmc-today-todays-headlines","author_override-john-keenan-unmc-strategic-communications"],"yoast_head":"\nWilliam Thorell, MD, is new chair of neurosurgery<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Dr. Thorell is excited about the UNMC Department of Neurosurgery and his new role, which he will begin on July 1.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/06\/16\/william-thorell-md-is-new-chair-of-neurosurgery\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"William Thorell, MD, is new chair of neurosurgery\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dr. Thorell is excited about the UNMC Department of Neurosurgery and his new role, which he will begin on July 1.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/06\/16\/william-thorell-md-is-new-chair-of-neurosurgery\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Newsroom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/unmcedu\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-06-16T07:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/WilliamThorell2061125.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1654\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1102\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jeffrey Robb\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@unmc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@unmc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jeffrey Robb\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/06\/16\/william-thorell-md-is-new-chair-of-neurosurgery\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/06\/16\/william-thorell-md-is-new-chair-of-neurosurgery\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jeffrey Robb\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/6c55382c243ff55b6c4dee62262b6a5c\"},\"headline\":\"William Thorell, MD, is new chair of neurosurgery\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-06-16T07:00:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/06\/16\/william-thorell-md-is-new-chair-of-neurosurgery\/\"},\"wordCount\":608,\"commentCount\":17,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/06\/16\/william-thorell-md-is-new-chair-of-neurosurgery\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/WilliamThorell2061125.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/06\/16\/william-thorell-md-is-new-chair-of-neurosurgery\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/06\/16\/william-thorell-md-is-new-chair-of-neurosurgery\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/06\/16\/william-thorell-md-is-new-chair-of-neurosurgery\/\",\"name\":\"William Thorell, MD, is new chair of neurosurgery\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/06\/16\/william-thorell-md-is-new-chair-of-neurosurgery\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/06\/16\/william-thorell-md-is-new-chair-of-neurosurgery\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/WilliamThorell2061125.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-06-16T07:00:00+00:00\",\"description\":\"Dr. Thorell is excited about the UNMC Department of Neurosurgery and his new role, which he will begin on July 1.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/06\/16\/william-thorell-md-is-new-chair-of-neurosurgery\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/06\/16\/william-thorell-md-is-new-chair-of-neurosurgery\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/06\/16\/william-thorell-md-is-new-chair-of-neurosurgery\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/WilliamThorell2061125.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/WilliamThorell2061125.jpg\",\"width\":1654,\"height\":1102},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/06\/16\/william-thorell-md-is-new-chair-of-neurosurgery\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"William Thorell, MD, is new chair of neurosurgery\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/\",\"name\":\"Newsroom\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#organization\",\"name\":\"University of Nebraska Medical Center\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/overview-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/overview-1.png\",\"width\":500,\"height\":153,\"caption\":\"University of Nebraska Medical Center\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/unmcedu\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/unmc\",\"https:\/\/instagram.com\/iamunmc\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/UNMCEDU\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/6c55382c243ff55b6c4dee62262b6a5c\",\"name\":\"Jeffrey Robb\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/author\/d09bf41544a3365a46c9077ebb5e35c3\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"William Thorell, MD, is new chair of neurosurgery","description":"Dr. Thorell is excited about the UNMC Department of Neurosurgery and his new role, which he will begin on July 1.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/06\/16\/william-thorell-md-is-new-chair-of-neurosurgery\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"William Thorell, MD, is new chair of neurosurgery","og_description":"Dr. Thorell is excited about the UNMC Department of Neurosurgery and his new role, which he will begin on July 1.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/06\/16\/william-thorell-md-is-new-chair-of-neurosurgery\/","og_site_name":"Newsroom","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/unmcedu","article_published_time":"2025-06-16T07:00:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1654,"height":1102,"url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/WilliamThorell2061125.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Jeffrey Robb","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@unmc","twitter_site":"@unmc","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jeffrey Robb","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/06\/16\/william-thorell-md-is-new-chair-of-neurosurgery\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/06\/16\/william-thorell-md-is-new-chair-of-neurosurgery\/"},"author":{"name":"Jeffrey Robb","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/6c55382c243ff55b6c4dee62262b6a5c"},"headline":"William Thorell, MD, is new chair of neurosurgery","datePublished":"2025-06-16T07:00:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/06\/16\/william-thorell-md-is-new-chair-of-neurosurgery\/"},"wordCount":608,"commentCount":17,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/06\/16\/william-thorell-md-is-new-chair-of-neurosurgery\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/WilliamThorell2061125.jpg","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/06\/16\/william-thorell-md-is-new-chair-of-neurosurgery\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/06\/16\/william-thorell-md-is-new-chair-of-neurosurgery\/","url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/06\/16\/william-thorell-md-is-new-chair-of-neurosurgery\/","name":"William Thorell, MD, is new chair of neurosurgery","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/06\/16\/william-thorell-md-is-new-chair-of-neurosurgery\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/06\/16\/william-thorell-md-is-new-chair-of-neurosurgery\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/WilliamThorell2061125.jpg","datePublished":"2025-06-16T07:00:00+00:00","description":"Dr. Thorell is excited about the UNMC Department of Neurosurgery and his new role, which he will begin on July 1.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/06\/16\/william-thorell-md-is-new-chair-of-neurosurgery\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/06\/16\/william-thorell-md-is-new-chair-of-neurosurgery\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/06\/16\/william-thorell-md-is-new-chair-of-neurosurgery\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/WilliamThorell2061125.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/WilliamThorell2061125.jpg","width":1654,"height":1102},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/06\/16\/william-thorell-md-is-new-chair-of-neurosurgery\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"William Thorell, MD, is new chair of neurosurgery"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/","name":"Newsroom","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#organization","name":"University of Nebraska Medical Center","url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/overview-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/overview-1.png","width":500,"height":153,"caption":"University of Nebraska Medical Center"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/unmcedu","https:\/\/x.com\/unmc","https:\/\/instagram.com\/iamunmc","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/UNMCEDU"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/6c55382c243ff55b6c4dee62262b6a5c","name":"Jeffrey Robb","url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/author\/d09bf41544a3365a46c9077ebb5e35c3\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/75"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122982"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122982\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":123033,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122982\/revisions\/123033"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/122984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}