Stroke Specialist Dr. Thomas Grobelny Attributes Success To Education In Poland And Unusual Life Experiences

CHICAGO, IL, June 16, 2008 –Thomas Grobelny, M.D., director of the Chicago Institute of Neurosurgery & Neuroresearch (CINN) Neurovascular and Stroke Intervention Program, is the only endovascular specialist in the country who is bilingual in Polish and English. Besides his expertise in endovascular surgery, Dr. Grobelny is best known for his compassion for others.

During his residency in Radiology and Neuroradiology he was a jail physician at Rikers Island, New York, where he worked with prisoners during the initial terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in 1993. He encountered a wide variety of patients there and treated many inmates who preferred life in prison to living “on the outside.”  He was most affected by one inmate who had been living in a discarded refrigerator under a bridge.

Educated in Poland, Dr. Grobelny has come a long way since his school days with Poland’s current wealthiest businessmen, Leszek Czarnecki. The two were classmates and on the high school swim team in Wroclaw, Poland. Today, they are still friends and Czarnecki, who started Poland’s largest leasing business and the Getin Bank, is credited with building the Sky Tower, the tallest residential building in Europe.

Dr. Grobelny attributes his success today as a stroke prevention specialist to his education in Poland’s fast track system for students excelling in math and physics and his unusual life experiences.

His expertise includes a full-range of neuroendovascular interventions, including coiling of aneurysms, stenting of narrowed blood vessels in the brain and neck, embolization of arteriovenous malformations, and the use of novel devices to treat acute stroke.  Dr. Grobelny is also trained to use Gamma Knife radiosurgery to treat his patient afflicted with AVMs.  In addition to the care of patients afflicted with neurovascular disorders, Dr. Grobelny’s experience also reflects the treatment of vertebral compression fractures using a procedure called kyphoplasty which almost immediately eliminates the back pain associated with this condition. 

“I loved learning at an early age and I was encouraged by my teachers in high school,” Dr. Grobelny explains.  “My passion for medicine and healing with the latest technology was sparked by my fellow students too.” 

Grobelny began his medical training in 1980 where he attended the School of Medicine, Wroclaw, Poland.  Shortly thereafter, he found himself a political refugee at a camp in Italy.  Finally, in 1988 he was sponsored to come to the United States where he successfully passed U.S. qualifying medical license and English language fluency exams within one year.  He performed his residency in Radiology at Columbia University, Harlem Hospital Center in New York City and completed fellowships in Endovascular Surgical Neuroradiology/Interventional Neuroradiology at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Philadelphia, PA and University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Medicine.
Grobelny is married to wife Eva whom he met in the middle of her OB/GYN internship in Poland.  They were married in Poland and she was able to join him three long years after he immigrated to the U.S.  They have one son, Bartosz, 24, who is in his third year of medical school at Thomas Jefferson School, Philadelphia (like his dad).

Dr. Grobelny is a resident of Chicago where he is an avid cyclist and Category 3 racer, often enjoying 5 a.m. training rides.  Recently, he had the privilege of riding with 2006 Tour de France winner Floyd Landis along the Chicago lakeshore. 

He joined CINN in March 2007 and has practices at the Neurologic & Orthopedic Hospital of Chicago and Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, Illinois.  Dr. Grobelny is an active lecturer and researcher. His current research interest is in endovascular neuroresearch.

For more information on Dr. Grobelny click here.