Sandeep Mittal, M.D., F.R.C.S.C., F.A.C.S, has been appointed chair of the Wayne State University School of Medicine Department of Neurosurgery, effective Oct. 1.

Jack D. Sobel, M.D., dean of the School of Medicine, announced the appointment Oct. 6.

Dr. Mittal replaces Murali Guthikonda, M.D., who announced his intention to step down as chair in late 2013.

"It is an honor and privilege to serve as the chair of the Department of Neurosurgery at Wayne State University," Dr. Mittal said. "I am deeply committed to training the next generation of neurosurgeons and expanding the department's clinical, research and scholarship activities."

A resident of West Bloomfield, Mich., Dr. Mittal, received his medical and master of surgery degree from McGill University Faculty of Medicine in 1997. He completed neurosurgery residency training and a postdoctoral fellowship in Developmental Neurobiology at the renowned Montreal Neurological Institute at McGill University in 2004. He subsequently completed a clinical fellowship in Epilepsy Surgery at the Montreal Neurological Institute, followed by a second subspecialty fellowship in Neuro-Oncological Surgery and Image-Guided Neurosurgery at Brigham and Women's Hospital at Harvard Medical School.

An associate professor, he joined the Wayne State University Department of Neurosurgery in 2006. Board certified by the American Board of Neurological Surgeons and the Royal College of Surgeons of Canada, his areas of expertise are in the surgical management of patients with medically-refractory epilepsy and those with complex brain tumors located in eloquent brain regions (e.g. motor cortex, speech and language centers). He also serves as co-director of the Wayne State University/Detroit Medical Center Comprehensive Epilepsy Center and the Multidisciplinary Neuro-Oncology Program at the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute.

He is director of the Translational Neuro-Oncology Research Lab and is a faculty member of the WSU Cancer Biology Graduate Program and the Department of Physiology Graduate Program.

An accomplished educator and National Institutes of Health-funded research scientist, Dr. Mittal has published more than 80 peer-reviewed manuscripts and 25 book chapters.

Wayne State University is a premier urban research institution offering more than 380 academic programs through 13 schools and colleges to more than 27,000 students.