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We reflect on the legacy of Dr. L. Nelson “Nick” Hopkins, who passed away at age 81 after a long battle with cancer in Buffalo, New York. Dr. Hopkins was Professor and Chairman of the University at Buffalo (UB) Department of Neurosurgery and Professor of Radiology at the UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences from 1989 to 2013. He founded the Toshiba Stroke and Vascular Research Center in 1997. He was also the founder and inaugural President of Kaleida Health’s Gates Vascular Institute (GVI) starting in 2012.
Nick built an incredible legacy as the first neurosurgeon to truly embrace endovascular techniques in the United States and train almost the entire generation of current thought leaders belonging to neurosurgery, neurology and radiology. It was his unique unrelenting advocacy that led endovascular technology to the forefront of neurosurgery and neurointervention, largely replacing traditional open procedures for minimally invasive techniques. The UB Department of Neurosurgery that he led for almost 25 years is now one of the foremost neurosurgical centers in the world, leading the way not just in vascular but every aspect of neurosurgery. He mentored Elad Levy, the current Chairman to run the Neurosurgery department... Elad has taken the department and Nick’s minimally invasive legacy to a whole new level including outpatient neurosurgical and endovascular procedures. Nick trained fellows from all around the world and they are now fondly called the Buffalo Mafia because of the widespread and significant contributions and continuation of the collaborative spirit they picked up from Nick.
His collaborations with entrepreneurs in the vascular med tech space, led to founding multiple successful companies that have helped millions of people around the world. He believed that innovation occurred at the cross sections between disciplines. He started this experiment early as a new Chair of Neurosurgery by creating the Toshiba Stroke and Vascular Research Center where he recruited physicists, engineers, and biologists to work with neurosurgeons to study blood flow and imaging techniques. He also worked hard to develop strong bonds with peers from other vascular disciplines including cardiology, radiology, vascular medicine, and vascular surgery. He took these experiences and strengthened them by bringing all vascular disciplines together to discuss failures at the Complications Conferences in Jackson Hole.
He imagined a hospital dedicated to global vascular diseases, and took his collaborative instincts to their ultimate degree by imagining the hospital colocalized with a world class vascular translational research institute and an independent not-for-profit entrepreneurship institute to maximize the ability to advance vascular medicine globally, but most importantly, for his beloved Buffalo, New York. This resulted in the creation of the Jacobs Institute, which is now the premier not-for-profit innovation center for entrepreneurs, inventors, physicians, and engineers from industry, academia or from anywhere around the world to come to train, test and develop new technologies to treat vascular and neurological diseases. The Gates Vascular Institute is now the flagship institution of Kaleida Health, which embodies Nick’s vision of all vascular specialists working together collaboratively. The UB Clinical and Translational Research Center boasts a similar collaborative spirit amongst scientists, engineers, biologists, and vascular clinicians. His ecosystem has created an incredible opportunity for the entire process of device development to go from conception to creation to testing and into patients all in one physical building.
For me personally, Nick was my mentor and guide who helped prepare me to continue his entrepreneurial and research endeavors at the Jacobs Institute and the Canon Stroke and Vascular Research Institute. He was a man with an unparalleled academic, research, entrepreneurial and pedagogical legacy as well as being a loving family man. I have benefitted immensely from his tutelage and friendship and I am forever in his debt and will miss him dearly.
Adnan H. Siddiqui, MD, PhD
Buffalo, New York