Founder Profile | Cairo Greifswald Neu

Prof. Dr Ahmed Zohdi – Professor Emeritus of Neurosurgery

Professor Emeritus of Neurosugery at the Cairo University in Egypt, Prof. Dr Ahmed Zohdi has sown the initial seeds that grew into the twinning process of two universities -Cairo University and Greifswald University- in the field of Neurosurgery and more specifically the specialty of Neuroendoscopy.

The field of Neurosurgery faces great challenges in developing innovative approaches to surgical treatments to augment patient health care. Brain diseases and disorders like brain cancer or hydrocephalus disease have an invasive and intimate impact on the patient’s quality of life. This calls for an intensification of research, medical neurosurgical experience, and knowledge in this peculiar medical field to feed the development of interventional procedures.

Prof. Dr Zohdi is therefore of opinion that the continued search for the best curable treatment renders the potential monopolisation of certain research institutes on neurosurgical treatments undesirable. Instead, he opts for scientific exchange and fostering synergies across scientific institutes, societies, and environments whereby different knowledges and practices are able to cross-feed each other. Pooling scientific resources including neurosurgical logbooks, databases, and infrastructure to enhance neurosurgical treatments is for him the cornerstone for fruitful collaboration.

By tapping into his scientific network, Prof. Dr Zohdi began to carve out a model for scientific collaboration. Rather than directly addressing the institutional level, he paved the way for potential collaboration at the personal level of colleagues. In the early nineties, Prof. Dr Zohdi’s medical career had footprints in Egypt and Austria. Through his close contact with the late Professor Axel Perneczky (1945-2009) as his disciple, he became part of a scientific pool of neurosurgeons, focusing on the cutting-edge specialty of Neuroendoscopy. At the time, the neurosurgeons active all over the world within this subspecialty of Neuroendoscopy could be counted on one hand in matter of speaking.

Prof. Dr Zohdi’s much later contribution in 2016 as President to the 3rd International Congress of the International Society on Minimally Invasive Neuro Surgery (ISMINS) is a witness to his relation to Prof. Perneczky and the latter’s legacy. By the time almost a quarter of a century had passed since the Minimal Invasive Neurosurgery (MIN) concept was intensively preached by the late professor. These congresses intend to keep alive his vision to pave the way for a modern, constantly evolving, evidence-based and contemporary Neurosurgery. It was Prof. Perneczky who introduced Prof. Dr Henry W. S. Schroeder to him. By the mid-nineties, both of them were together invited to several world meetings on Neuroendoscopy, sharing their passion for the specialty. In the words of Prof. Dr Zohdi:

"Endoscopy enacts a new appreciation of your vision as a neurosurgeon. The telescopic vision renders the neurosurgeon capable of far-seeing, looking at the brain from a distance, from a telescopic eye. The focus is on what is just in front of you, losing sight of what is behind you. In a sense, it blinds you as well. However, in a matter of a turn, a change of angle, you can begin to see all over again. The endoscope globalises your vision in a way. Every structure, every tissue of the brain counts in navigating the corridors of this sensitive organ – the brain– to avoid damage and to be in tune with the concept of minimal invasiveness with the vision to increase days to life, life to days, life quality."

In Prof. Dr Henry W.S. Schroeder, Prof. Dr Zohdi found a compatible profile to promote the high-tech-specialty of Neuroendoscopy. Prof. Dr Zohdi was eager to formalise this connection by taking the scientific collaboration a step further. In 2010, he sent one of his disciples, Prof. Dr Ehab El Refaee, to Greifswald to serve as the first academic and research liaison and bridge between the two medical institutes. From 2013-2015, Dr Ahmed Al Damaty and later Dr Ahmed El Mennebawy followed in his footsteps. Their main task included representing the quality of Egyptian Neurosurgery in Germany. Blended with the Egyptian society of neurosurgeons, they were as Egyptian seeds planted within the German scientific neurosurgical landscape. From a bridge to a full-time job position to a resident in the German field of Neurosurgery, the ground for scientific exchange between both universities became fertile.

In 2013, the first Memorandum of Understanding between Cairo University and Greifswald University came to life. Communication is central therein and Prof. Dr Ehab El Refaee was appointed as the coordinator to facilitate the continuous bridge of knowledge transfer and to implement the MoU’s vision.

In 2020, the Certified Training Fellowship in Neuroendoscopy was launched. The Memorandum of Understanding formed the ground on which the Medical Syndicates of both Egypt and Germany certified the fellowship and the fellowship is as well in line with the Continuing Medical Education (CME) points.

With the prospect of further anchoring this collaboration by the means of issuing a certified diploma, Prof. Dr Zohdi’s founder story reminds the medical community of an exemplary model of how to foster scientific exchange through a bottom-up approach.

Prof. Dr Ahmed Zohdi is Professor Emeritus of Neurosurgery at Cairo University and received his Certificate of appreciation from Cairo University (2009) and the Cairo Medical Syndicate (1986;2009)

As Professor at the University’s Kasr Alainy School of Medicine from 1998 until 2014, he was appointed Head of the Neurosurgery Emergency and Trauma Unit at Cairo University Hospital (1998-2001), Head of Pediatric Neurosurgery Unit at the Specialized Pediatric University Hospital (2001-2003), Director of El-Manial Specialized University Hospital (2003-2008), and Head of MIN Unit at the Neurosurgical Department (2003-2014). In 2011, he was both Vice-Dean for Postgraduate Studies and Research and replacing Vice-Dean for Education and Student Affairs & Community Service and Environment at the Faculty of Medicine.

Prof. Dr Ahmed Zohdi is a member of several prestigious medical societies and professional associations, like the Egyptian Society of Back Pain, Pan African Association of Neurological Sciences, Member of the Egyptian Society of Neurology, Psychiatry, and Neurosurgery. As Member of the Minimal Invasive Neurosurgery Group (MIN-Group), he was elected President of the 3rd International Congress (ISMINS) in 2016. He has a prominent position within the Egyptian Society of Neurological Surgeons (ESNS). As an important vehicle for knowledge transfer in the field of Neurosurgery, Prof. Dr Ahmed Zohdi reanimated the Egyptian Journal of Neurological Surgeons (EJNS) as Executive Editor (2009-2012) and finally Chief Editor since 2012. For these honorable efforts, he was awarded Honorary President of ESNS in 2014. In the same year, he was Elected Chairman for the Training and Education Committee of the Pan Arab Neurosurgical Society. He is also an active Member of the World Federation of Neurological Surgeons (WFNS) as both an invited Faculty Member for WFNS Educational Courses and WFNS member of the Neuroendoscopy Committee. Internationally, he was elected Honorary Member of the Macedonian Neurosurgical Association in 2012.

Prof. Dr Ahmed Zohdi has also influenced the Egyptian educational landscape in the field of Neurosurgery as Member of the Permanent Scientific Committee for the Promotion of Neurosurgical Associate Professors, Professors, and Consultants and as Member of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Universities. Since 2002, he also assists in the DAAD Selection Committee for Doctorate Candidates for DAAD international grants to Germany. Since 2004, he also supervises the High School Program for Administration Clerk/Medical Secretary Project. In regard to funding mechanisms, he reviewed and assessed in 2008 both the Science & Technology Development Fund (STDF) and the RDI Fund.