Traffic Alert: Southbound traffic at 6410 Fannin will be detoured overnight, from 1-3 a.m., July 18 due to a CenterPoint Energy vault repair. The UPB Garage will only be accessible from Main Street, and the UPB valet drive will be closed. 

Morcos honored by Southern Neurosurgical Society

Dr. Jacques Morcos stands on a stage between two colleagues as he receives an award during a Southern Neurosurgical Society event. Morcos, dressed in a dark suit with a red tie, holds a plaque while the two men beside him—one holding a gift bag—pose for a photo. A long table with microphones and water bottles sits behind them against a blue curtain backdrop.

The Southern Neurosurgical Society honored Jacques Morcos, MD, with the Distinguished Practitioner Award and Lectureship in March.

The Southern Neurosurgical Society presented Jacques Morcos, MD, professor and John P. and Kathrine G. McGovern Distinguished Chair in the Vivian L. Smith Department of Neurosurgery, with its Distinguished Practitioner Award and Lectureship at the organization’s annual meeting in March.

The Distinguished Practitioner Award and Lectureship honors members of the Southern Neurosurgical Society (external link) with exceptional, long-term contributions to neurosurgery and recognizes their leadership and clinical excellence.

“It is with enormous gratitude and humility that I accepted this recognition by a large group of my peers,” Morcos said. “The Southern Neurosurgical Society has been in existence since 1949, and its annual meeting represents the third largest neurosurgical gathering of the year. This award is meant to recognize neurosurgeons who have upheld the highest standards of practice. One is always reminded of the Oslerian principle: The good physician treats the disease; the great physician treats the patient who has the disease.”

Morcos serves as co-director of UTHealth Houston Neurosciences and director of the Cerebrovascular and Skull Base Surgery Program and Fellowship. He obtained his medical degree from the American University of Beirut in 1985.

His clinical and research expertise includes skull base and complex brain tumors, endoscopic skull base surgery, microvascular decompression, and all aspects of cerebrovascular surgery, including bypass surgery for complex aneurysms, Moyamoya disease, arteriovenous malformations, cavernomas, and carotid endarterectomy.

Morcos has held leadership positions in organized neurosurgery both nationally and internationally. He previously served as president of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, the World Federation of Skull Base Societies, the World Federation of Skull Base Societies Congress, the Madjid Samii Society of International Neurosurgery, the North American Skull Base Society, the Society of University Neurosurgeons, and the World Association of Lebanese Neurosurgeons.

Morcos is passionate about microneurosurgery and education, having lectured and taught around the world. He has given more than 1,000 invited presentations and has held more than 100 visiting professorships. He has authored 230 peer-reviewed publications and has trained 25 cerebrovascular and skull base fellows.