Fraser Cummins Henderson Sr., MD

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Get to know Neurosurgeon Dr. Fraser C. Henderson Sr. who serves patients in Silver Spring, Maryland.

Dr. Henderson, a board-certified and fellowship-trained neurosurgeon, practices with The Metropolitan Neurosurgery Group in Silver Spring, Maryland. There, he and his colleagues, a team of board-certified professionals, use their expertise and combined years of experience to provide patients with comprehensive care for disorders or injuries of the brain, spine, and peripheral nerves.

In regards to his professional background, Dr. Henderson entered private practice in Bethesda, Maryland, as the Director of Neurosurgery at Doctors Hospital and the Director of the Chiari Center of Excellence. He is focused on the development of the understanding and treatment of deformity induced injury to the brainstem and spinal cord in Chiari malformation and Ehlers-Danlos syndromes.

Born in the Philippines, he lived in Hong Kong and then was raised in Australia, where he was the foreman on a cattle station in the Outback. After moving to the United States, he went on to receive his bachelor’s degree and his medical degree from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. He served with the Multinational Peacekeeping Force in Beirut, earning the Navy Commendation Medal for preparedness and treatment of mass casualties following the terrorist bombing attack in Beirut in October of 1983. After completing his residency under Phanor Perot at the Medical University of South Carolina, he returned to complete his active duty obligation at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, as the Director of Spine. He was Brigade Neurosurgeon for the 4th Marine Expeditionary Brigade in Desert Shield and Desert Storm during the 1st Gulf War. He then completed a fellowship in craniospinal surgery under Professor Alan Crockard at The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in Queen Square, London.

Finishing his tour with the U.S. Navy, Commander Henderson joined Georgetown University in Washington D.C. as the Director of Neurosurgery of the Spine and Cranio-cervical Junction. He was the Co-Director of the Lombardi Neuro-Oncology Division, the Co-Director of the CyberKnife Radiosurgery Center, and the Medical Director of Neuroscience Nursing Units. He was appointed  Professor of Neurosurgery and Associate Professor of Radiation Medicine at Georgetown University, where he was active in advancing CyberKnife radiosurgery for the treatment of chordoma and other complex spinal tumors. Moreover, he was the Principal Investigator in the translational development of a radio-sensitizing drug, as well as a drug to block the malignant invasiveness of glioblastoma multiforme.

Among his many achievements, he is the inventor of 11 devices and concepts relating to disorders of the brainstem and spinal cord, and published over 85 peer-reviewed articles, patents, and book chapters. He has also given over 185 invited lectures, with a focus on craniocervical disorders, Chiari malformation, Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, cancer, radiosurgery, and unusual problems of the spine.

In addition to being a Fellow of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, the doctor is a member of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, Washington Academy of Neurosurgeons, the Maryland Neurosurgical Society, The Washington Clinical Pathology Society, MedChi,  the Chiari Syringomyelia Foundation, the International Chiari and Related Disorders Data Bank Committee, and the Ehlers-Danlos Society, among others. 

Dr. Henderson is board-certified in neurological surgery by the American Board of Neurological Surgery (ABNS). The primary purposes of the ABNS are to conduct examinations of candidates who voluntarily seek certification and to issue certificates to those who meet the requirements of the board and satisfactorily complete its examinations.

Neurosurgery is the medical specialty concerned with the prevention, diagnosis, surgical treatment, and rehabilitation of disorders which affect any portion of the nervous system including the brain, spinal cord, peripheral nerves, and extra-cranial cerebrovascular system. Neurosurgeons are doctors who diagnose and treat problems with the nervous system, often by performing surgery on the brain or spine. They treat strokes, tumors, certain types of birth defects, infections, and head or spinal cord injuries.

Dr. Henderson’s interests include running, traveling, as well as historic and cultural resource preservation. He and his wife, Becky, live on a small farm outside of Washington and have three sons together.

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