our gamma knife team

Steven E. Zachow, M.D., Radiation Oncologist
Medical director – Robert R Smith MD Gamma Knife Center

Dr. Zachow is also the medical director of the Cancer Care Center at Central Mississippi Medical Center, and the medical director of the Gamma Knife program. Dr. Zachow received his Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Alabama School of Medicine. He completed his internship at the Lloyd Nolan Foundation in Birmingham, Alabama, and his residency in radiation oncology at the Medical College of Virginia. He is board certified in Radiation Oncology. Dr. Zachow has served on the State Board of Directors for the American Cancer Society, Mississippi Division, since 1987. He is a member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, American College of Radiology, American Medical Association, American Society of Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology, American College of Radiation Oncology, the Radiologic Society of North America and the Mississippi State Medical Association. Dr. Zachow served as chief of staff at Central Mississippi Medical Center in 1999. He received the American Medical Association's Physicians Recognition Award in 1985, 1997, 1998 and 2001. In May 2000, Dr. Zachow was awarded a Fellowship in the American College of Radiation Oncology and served on the Mississippi State Board of Health committee on Radiologic Health.

Lon F. Alexander, M.D., Neurosurgeon

Dr. Alexander earned his undergraduate degree from Louisiana State University and is also a graduate of the Louisiana State University School of Medicine. Dr. Alexander completed both his Internship and Residency in Neurosurgery at the University Of Mississippi. Dr. Alexander also completed a post-graduate cerebrovascular surgery fellowship in the former Soviet Union. Afterwards, he completed another fellowship in skull based and cerebrovascular surgery in Japan, where he was the Sugita fellow. Dr. Alexander was an Associate Professor in the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Mississippi, and also served as Chief of the Division of Neurosurgery for the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Jackson, Mississippi. In 1994, Dr. Alexander and Professor Robert R. Smith formed a private practice at what would become Central Mississippi Medical Center. While together, Dr. Alexander and Smith co-authored multiple textbook chapters and original publications. Dr. Alexander returned to the staff at CMMC in 2008.

Richard E. Clatterbuck, M.D., Ph.D., Neurosurgeon

Dr. Clatterbuck earned his undergraduate degree from Mississippi State University in Physics and is a graduate of The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland where he also earned his P.h.D. in Neuroscience. Dr. Clatterbuck also completed both his Internship and Fellowship in General Surgery as well as his Residency and Fellowship in Neurological Surgery at Johns Hopkins. His time at Johns Hopkins contains numerous achievements that included being named Chief Resident of Neurological Surgery in 1998, completing a Neurovascular Research Fellowship from 1999 to 2001 and serving as an Instructor and Assistant Professor in the Department of Neurological Surgery. While acting as Assistant Professor, Dr. Clatterbuck served as the Director of Cerebrovascular Research. Dr. Clatterbuck is also a member of several professional medical societies including the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, the Congress of Neurological Surgeons and Joint Section on Cerebrovascular Surgery and is licensed by the American Board of Neurological Surgeons. With over 60 collaborative published articles and over 85 abstracts and presentations, Dr. Clatterbuck is extensively knowledgeable in the field of Neurological Surgery. Besides being well published in his field, Dr. Clatterbuck served as a decorated Major in the Reserve U.S. Army Medical Corps that included deployment in support of Operation Enduring Freedom at Brooke Army Medical Center in 2005. Dr. Clatterbuck joined the Hattiesburg Clinic in 2007 and became a member of the Robert R. Smith, M.D. Gamma Knife treatment team in 2008.

E. Thomas Cullom III, M.D., Neurosurgeon

Dr. Cullom obtained a Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Missouri/Columbia School of Medicine where he graduated magna cum laude. He completed an internship in General Surgery and residency in Neurosurgery at The University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, Mississippi. In 1991, he was named Chief Resident of Neurological Surgery at the VA Medical Center in Jackson. In 1992, he was named Chief Resident of Neurological Surgery at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. From 1993-1996, he served in the United States Navy at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Hospital. He has extensive experience in spine and brain surgery as well as minimally invasive surgeries such as endoscopic carpal tunnel releases and spine fusions. Dr. Cullom has published several neurological journal articles and made numerous presentations. He is a member of the American Medical Association, the American Association of Neurologic Surgeons and the National Stroke Association.

William C. Hanigan, MD, Ph.D., Neurosurgeon

Dr. Hanigan is a native of Chicago, IL. He graduated cum laude AOA from Loyola Medical School. In 1978, he received a Ph.D. in neuropharmacology and joined the Department of Neurosurgery at the College of Medicine in Peoria, IL. He helped organize the neurosurgical residency at the medical school and the Spina Bifida Clinic at Saint Francis Medical Center. As a clinical professor of neurosurgery, he wrote over 80 articles and served as head of the Section of pediatric Neurosurgery until 2005. He was on the Honorary Committee of the Illinois Spina Bifida Association and he volunteered at Camp Ability in Bloomington, IL. Dr. Hanigan is an enthusiastic medical historian with an interest in military medicine. He was a founding member and chairman of the History Section of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons and served on the Board of Directors of the American Branch of the Western Front Association. In 1992, he organized a nationally recognized book exhibition at Bradley University and in 1994, he received the New York Tidewater Prize for the History of Military Medicine. He was a clinical professor of neurosurgery at the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria from 1992 to 2007. In 2008, Dr. Hanigan moved to Jackson Mississippi, where he is now a Professor in the Department of Neurosurgery in the School of Medicine at the University of Mississippi Medical Center.

James Robert House, III, M.D., Ear Nose and Throat

Dr. House received his medical degree from the University of Mississippi School of Medicine in Jackson, MS. He then completed an internship in General Surgery at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. Dr. House then completed his residency program in Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. Following the completion of his residency, Dr. House participated in a Research Fellowship at the House Ear Institute in Los Angles, California. Dr. House then participated in a Clinical Fellowship of Neurotology with the House Ear Clinic, after which he returned to Jackson and was appointed to Assistant Professor of Surgery. Dr. House is certified by the American Board of Otolaryngology and has a subspecialty certification in Neurotology. Dr. House has been the president of Central Medical Society, sat of the Board of Directors of the Mississippi State Medical Association and received a Best Doctors in America Award in 2006. Dr. House is a member of numerous societies including the Mississippi State Medical Association, American Medical Association, American Academy of Otolaryngology- Head and Neck Surgery, the Christian Medical-Dental Society and the American Neurotology Society. Dr. House has published several clinical papers in his field of Otolaryngology.

David Wahl, M.D., Radiation Oncologist

Dr Wahl received his medical degree from the University of Florida, College of Medicine in Gainesville, Florida. He completed an internship and residency in Radiation Oncology at the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond, Virginia, where he served as an assistant professor of Radiation Oncology. He was subsequently an instructor of Radiation Therapy for the Department of Radiology at the University of Mississippi Medical Center and practices at Radiation Oncology of Mississippi in Jackson and at Vicksburg Oncology Associates in Vicksburg.

Dr. Wahl has had extensive experience in Stereotactic Radiosurgery, Brachytherapy (to include palladium seed implants for prostate cancer), and 3-D conformal treatment planning. He is a member of numerous professional organizations, which include the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology, American College of Radiology, American Society of Clinical Oncology, American College of Radiation Oncology, Mississippi Radiological Society and the American Medical Association.

David J. Yeh, M.D., Neurosurgeon

Dr. Yeh received his undergraduate degree from the University of New Orleans and is a graduate of the Medical College of Georgia, School of Medicine where he also completed both his General Surgery Internship and Neurosurgery Residency. Dr. Yeh is licensed by the American Board of Neurological Surgery and is a member of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons, American Association of Neurological Surgeons and the Louisiana Medical Society. Before coming to Mississippi, Dr. Yeh worked with several facilities in New Orleans that were destroyed in Hurricane Katrina. In 2008, Dr. Yeh joined the Hattiesburg Clinic Neurosurgery Department in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. He joined the Robert R. Smith, M.D. Gamma Knife Treatment team in 2008. Besides Gamma Knife radiosurgery, Dr. Yeh specializes in general adult neurosurgery and the treatment of arteriovenous malformations (AVMs), aneurysms, brain trauma, and complex spine surgery. Besides his career in medicine, Dr. Yeh is also an award-winning violinist.