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Chief Resident

Amber Gordon is currently the Chief Resident in UAB's Department of Neurosurgery. She credits her success to her family who never set any boundaries and who "always believed in me." She grew up as a southern belle from a rural town in south Alabama. However, "don't let the lace and parasol fool you"! She has always enjoyed the challenge of taking things apart and putting them back together. This enthusiasm for figuring things out led her to Vanderbilt University where she majored in Biomedical Engineering. During her senior design project, she engineered a glove for use during deep brain stimulation electrode placement to quantify Parkinson's disease symptoms. This is where she found her passion for neurosurgery.

Amber chose the UAB Neurosurgery residency program because it offers residents the unique opportunity to become clinically and surgically sound while at the same time preparing them for an academic future. Early in her residency, Amber authored the UAB Neurosurgery Survival Guide. This handbook has evolved into a comprehensive road map for interns, residents, and nurses. It includes diagrams for surgical positioning, common post-operative orders, flow charts for treating elevated ICP, and best of all, personal advice on, "how to survive your neurosurgery residency". The Survival Guide is a coveted finding in the white coat pocket of all our residents.