Dr. Mark N. Hadley has been a neurosurgeon since 1988 and has been a Professor at UAB for 26 years. He specializes in the treatment of spinal column and spinal cord disorders. He has been recognized as one of America's Top Doctors since 2001 and among the “Top 1%” in his specialty in the United States since 2011.  He is busy in a number of areas in neurosurgery at UAB and nationally: patient care, teaching, research, publishing, and leadership.

Dr. Hadley was born in 1956 and raised in Napa, California. He was active in sports, scholastics, and student government through high school. Dr. Hadley graduated from Stanford University in 1978 with a BA in Economics. He was a four-year letterman in Varsity Track. Thereafter, he began his medical education at Albany Medical College in upstate New York where he was profoundly influenced by A. John Popp, M.D., Professor of Surgery and Neurosurgery. Dr. Hadley received his M.D. degree in 1982.

Dr. Hadley completed his general surgery internship at the University of California under F. William Blaisdale. He began his post-graduate neurosurgical training in 1983 at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Arizona, under mentors Robert F. Spetzler, Volker K. H. Sonntag, Andrew G. Shetter, John R. Green, and others. He completed his residency training with 42 cited publications and three regional and national resident prizes.  Upon graduation in 1988, Dr. Hadley served three years as a neurosurgeon in the United States Air Force. In 1991 Dr. Hadley accepted the position of Assistant Professor of Neurological Surgery under Richard B. Morawetz, MD, at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Alabama. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 1993 and Professor in 1997. He has been actively involved in medical student, Resident, and Fellow education at UAB and serves as the Director of the Residency Training Program, and the Director of the Neurosurgical Spinal Surgery Fellowship program. He has served as the Medical Director of an active regional Think First Injury Prevention Program and has served as Team Physician to the University of Alabama and the University of Alabama at Birmingham athletic programs. He is a dedicated teacher, instructor, and clinical scientist. His main areas of clinical and scientific interest are disorders of the human spine and spinal cord. He is licensed in the State of Alabama and is Board Certified by the American Board of Neurological Surgery (1992).

Dr. Hadley has authored more than 200 scientific articles and chapters in medical textbooks.  He has authored or edited several compilations in Neurological Surgery, including Self-Assessment for Neurological Surgeons (SANS) VI for the AANS and CNS in 1997, multiple educational videotapes, Video Perspectives in Neurological Surgery, the comprehensive Guidelines for the Management of Acute Cervical Spine and Spinal Cord Injuries published as a supplement to Neurosurgery in March 2002 and the Guidelines for the Performance of Fusion Procedures for Degenerative Disease of the Lumbar Spine published in the Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine in June 2005.  He and his colleagues have completed an update on the medical-evidence based compendium Guidelines for the Management of Acute Cervical Spine and Spinal Cord Injuries published in Neurosurgery in March 2013. In addition to treating patients with spinal and spinal cord pathology, he studies these conditions as well. He is currently the awardee of two Department of Defense grants to study acute spinal cord injury treatment strategies.

Dr. Hadley serves on the Editorial Boards of Neurosurgery (1999 to present) and the Journal of Neurosurgery (2004 to 2016). He has been a Visiting Professor at major universities throughout the United States and has received a variety of honors including the inaugural Frank H. Mayfield Award of the AANS/CNS Spine Section in 1984, the United States Air Force Commendation Medal for Meritorious Service in July 1991, and induction into the honorary medical society, Alpha Omega Alpha in 2004.  He was honored by his patients in 2005 and was awarded the Charles A. and Patsy W. Collat Endowed Professorship in Neurological Surgery.

Dr. Hadley has been active in organized Neurosurgery since his residency training.  He has served on the Executive Committee of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons [CNS] (1994-2004) and of the AANS/CNS Section on Disorders of the Spine and Peripheral Nerves (1992-1999). He has served as the Secretary of the CNS (1997-2000), and as the CNS President (2003). He has served as a member of the AANS/CNS Washington Committee (2001-2003). He is currently keenly involved in the Academy of Neurological Surgery (he served as its President in 2016) and the Society of Neurological Surgeons. He began a six-year term as a Director of the American Board of Neurological Surgery in 2012.

Dr. Hadley has become a nationally and internationally recognized expert in the care and surgical treatment of patients with spinal cord tumors and spinal column pathology, including congenital anomalies, traumatic spinal cord injuries, fractures of the spinal vertebrae, degenerative spinal diseases, disc herniations, spinal stenosis, spinal reconstruction and fusion procedures of the entire spinal column, from the base of the skull through the sacrum. He performs an average of 300 such procedures a year.

Education

Medical School
Albany Medical College

Internship
University of California

Residency
Barrow Neurological Institute, Phoenix, Arizona

Contact

Campus Address
FOT 1030

Patient Appointments and Questions
205-934-7170

Email
mnhadley@uabmc.edu