Miguel A. Faria, Jr.

Miguel A. Faria, Jr.
Born (1952-09-30) 30 September 1952
Sancti Spiritus, Cuba
Education University of South Carolina
Medical University of South Carolina
University of Florida
Emory University

Medical career

Profession Neurosurgeon, editor, professor, author, writer, medical historian

Miguel A. Faria, Jr. (born 30 September 1952) is an associate editor-in-chief and a world affairs editor of Surgical Neurology International. He is a retired neurosurgeon and neuroscientist,[1][2][3][4][5] editor and author, medical historian and ethicist,[6][7] public health critic,[8][9] and advocate for the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution,[10][11][12]

Early life and education

Faria was born in Sancti Spiritus, Cuba. Faria's parents were members of the urban underground Revolutionary Directorate (Directorio Revolucionario Estudantil; DRE) under Faure Chomón and Rolando Cubela that fought against Fulgencio Batista.[13][14] Faria (age 13) and his father, also a physician, were prompted to escape from Cuba while under the watch of Cuba's State Security. Their escape through several Caribbean islands is narrated in Faria's book.[15]

Faria entered and completed his undergraduate studies at the University of South Carolina, receiving a BS degree (Biology and Psychology) and graduating magna cum laude in 1973. He then attended the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, South Carolina, and was inducted into Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society (1975) in his second year. Faria graduated with honors, receiving the Merck's Manual Award for scholastic achievement, and earning his M.D. degree in 1977. Faria completed his surgical internship at Shands Teaching Hospital at the University of Florida (1977–1978), and his neurosurgical residency at Emory University (1978–1983).[16][17]

Professional life

Faria practiced neurosurgery in Macon, Georgia, at HCA Coliseum Medical Centers, where he served as Chief of staff. Faria was also clinical professor of neurosurgery (ret.) and adjunct professor of medical history (ret.) at Mercer University School of Medicine.[17] Faria has written over 200 medical, scientific, and professional articles as well as letters or editorials published in the medical literature. More than 70 of these articles are currently indexed in PubMed.[18][19][20] His specialties range from brain surgery for the removal of cerebral tumors; traumatic blood clots of the brain; diagnosis and treatment of pituitary tumors via microsurgery;[4] diagnosis and treatment of cerebral aneurysms[5] and arteriovenous malformations;[1][21] radiographic techniques;[22] diagnosis, evaluation, and treatment of the Chiari type I and II malformations;[2][3][23] advances in neurosurgery;[24][25] to medical history and politics.[6][7][26][27][28]

Faria served on the Injury Research Grant Review Committee (later renamed the Initial Review Group [IRG]) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)[29] from 2002–2005, reviewing grants seeking public funding for scientific and technical merit in the area of injury prevention and control.

During the 1990s, Faria was involved in a gun control debate regarding the CDC's National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC).[30][31][32][33][34] Faria felt that the NCIPC's program on gun violence was biased against gun owners, promoting "politicized, result-oriented research."[35][36][37][38] In March 1996, Faria testified before the U.S. House Appropriations Subcommittee for Labor, Health, and Human Services to that effect stating, "I have yet to see a published report that has been funded by the NCIPC in which the benefits of firearms in the hands of law-abiding citizens have been published even though they are there ... if you don't conclude that guns are bad and that they need to be eradicated because they are a 'public health menace,' they are not published."[9][39] Congress eventually prohibited the CDC from funding gun research and proscribed public health officials from using taxpayer's money in lobbying and participating in politically partisan activities.[34][40]

Humanitarian effort

In March 1990, Faria traveled to El Salvador as part of a mission sponsored by the politically conservative Accuracy in Media (AIM). During this trip to El Salvador, Faria visited hospitals and orphanages. After his return to the United States, Faria, who was then serving as chief-of-staff at HCA Coliseum Medical Centers in Macon, Georgia, convinced Dr. Thomas F. Frist, Jr., CEO of Hospital Corporation of America (HCA), to send humanitarian assistance to El Salvador. As a result of Faria's effort, Salvadoran hospitals received a shipment of medications, beds, wheelchairs and physical therapy equipment.[41][42][43][44]

Publications and editorships

During 1993–1995, Faria was the editor of the Journal of the Medical Association of Georgia, taking that state medical journal to national prominence and controversy, which resulted in pressure on him to resign.[45][46][47] Faria has also described the circumstances surrounding his resignation in correspondence and in his book Medical Warrior.[48][49][50][51][52] In 1996 Faria founded and served as editor-in-chief of the Medical Sentinel of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS). As editor of the Medical Sentinel, Faria called for an "open data, public review policy in peer reviewed medical journalism."[53] He called for other medical journal editors to post research data online thereby allowing investigators to validate scientific conclusions before public policy is implemented, particularly in the area of public health. The purpose of this policy is to ensure that public policy is dictated by sound scientific principles and not by premature assertions or tainted by politics or ideology.[53] Faria left AAPS in 2002 to pursue other interests.[54]

From 2004 to 2010, Faria served on the Editorial Board of Surgical Neurology, an international journal of neurosurgery, formerly the Official International Journal of the Neurosurgical Societies of Belgium, Brazil, China, Romania, Russia, and Taiwan. Surgical Neurology International (SNI), its successor publication, is also headed by James I. Ausman, M.D., editor-in-chief. Faria now serves with SNI as one of its editors, along with his colleague, Dr. Russell Blaylock. In 2003 Faria published a three part history of surgery article, "Violence, Mental Illness, and the Brain – A Brief History of Psychosurgery."[55][56]

In 2015, a raging debate began between Faria and Ezekiel Emanuel on the issue of bioethics and longevity, following the latter's publication of an article stating life was not worth living after age 75 and that longevity was not a worthwhile goal in health care policy.[57] This was denied by Faria, who claimed that life could still be fruitful and rewarding after that age, if healthy lifestyles are led. Faria states that longevity is a worthwhile goal and that the compression of morbidity of James Fries should be upgraded from a hypothesis to a theory.[58][59] This debate also pits traditional individual-based medical ethicists against the utilitarian perspective of the modern bioethics movement.

Faria has also published an intriguing medical history article positing that Stalin's death was due to deliberate poisoning by a cabal of his inner circle, who also delayed medical treatment. His article hinges on the work of previous investigators but is substantiated by clinical reports and autopsy findings, which were published in Pravda contemporaneously but forgotten in the Soviet archives.[60] Faria has also elaborated on Stalin's infamous Doctors Plot, a developing antisemitic plot, which was only just barely aborted by Stalin's death.[61]

Faria has written or coauthored several chapters in medical textbooks,[62][63][64] and his works are cited and referenced in a number of other books and publications.[9][39][65][66][67][68][69][70][71][72][73] He is the author of three books: Vandals at the Gates of Medicine — Historic Perspectives on the Battle Over Health Care Reform (1995),[74] Medical Warrior: Fighting Corporate Socialized Medicine (1997),[75] and Cuba in Revolution: Escape From a Lost Paradise (2002).[76] Faria's last historical and autobiographical book, Cuba in Revolution – Escape From a Lost Paradise, details his childhood experiences and his family's involvement in the Cuban Revolution.[77][78]

Appointments

Awards and memberships

Professional publications and scholarly citations

References

  1. 1 2 Faria, MA Jr; Fleischer AS (Feb 1980). "Dual cerebral and meningeal supply to giant arteriovenous malformations of the posterior cerebral hemisphere". J Neurosurg. 52 (2): 153–61. doi:10.3171/jns.1980.52.2.0153. PMID 7351554.
  2. 1 2 Faria MA Jr, Tindall GT. Pathogenesis, diagnosis, and surgical treatment of the Chiari Malformation. Contemporary Neurosurgery 1980 2 (Lesson 9)
  3. 1 2 Faria, MA Jr; Spector RH, Tindall GT (May 1980). "Downbeat nystagmus as the salient manifestation of the Arnold-Chiari Malformation". Surg Neurol 13 (5): 333–6. PMID 7384997. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
  4. 1 2 Faria, MA Jr; Tindall GT (Jan 1982). "Transsphenoidal microsurgery for Prolactin-secreting pituitary adenomas: Results in 100 women with the Amenorrhea-Galactorrhea Syndrome". J Neurosurg 56 (1): 33–43. doi:10.3171/jns.1982.56.1.0033. PMID 7198681.
  5. 1 2 Fleischer, AS; Faria MA Jr, Hoffman JC (Oct 1979). "Pseudoaneurysm complicating superficial temporal artery-middle cerebral artery bypass". Surg Neurol 12 (4): 305–6. PMID 524245. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
  6. 1 2 Faria, MA Jr (Sep 1990). "Dominique-Jean Larrey: Napoleon's Surgeon from Egypt to Waterloo". J Med Assoc Ga 79 (9): 693–5. PMID 2212907. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
  7. 1 2 Faria, MA Jr (Dec 1992). "The Death of Henry II of France". J Neurosurg 77 (6): 964–9. doi:10.3171/jns.1992.77.6.0964. PMID 1432144.
  8. "Gun control: Medical ethics issue, public health concern, or political bias?". Medical Ethics Advisor, June 2007. Retrieved 18 August 2012.
  9. 1 2 3 Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations for 1997: Testimony of members of Congress and other interested individuals and organizations. (6 March 1996). "Hearings Before a House Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations, House of Representatives, One Hundred Fourth Congress, Second Session". Hearing Volume, Part 7: 935–970. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
  10. Kurland PB, Gunther G, Casper G (2008). Landmark Briefs and Arguments of the Supreme Court of the United States: Constitutional Law, Volume 380. Bethesda, MD,: University Publications of America. pp. 881, 886, 893.
  11. Casper G, Sullivan KM. Landmark Briefs and Arguments of the Supreme Court of the United States: Constitutional Law, Volumes 380–382, Part 1 of District of Columbia V. Heller, 2008 Term Supplement. Lexis/Nexis 2008. pp. 881, 893.
  12. Amicus Brief No. 07-290 IN THE Supreme Court of the United States DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, ET AL., Petitioners, v. DICK ANTHONY HELLER, Respondent. On Writ of Certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. "BRIEF FOR AMICUS CURIAE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS, INC. IN SUPPORT OF RESPONDENT. ANDREW L. SCHLAFLY Counsel for Amicus" (PDF). Retrieved 4 August 2012.
  13. Faria, Miguel A. (2002). Cuba in Revolution: Escape From a Lost Paradise. Macon, Ga.: Hacienda Pub. pp. 14–129. ISBN 0-9641077-3-2.
  14. Kantor M. "Interview with Dr. Miguel Faria, Part 1". Newmax.com, 14 June 2002. Retrieved 18 August 2012.
  15. Solera RA. "Book Review of Cuba in Revolution– Escape from a Lost Paradise. La Nueva Cuba". LaNuevaCuba.com, 1 February 2002. Retrieved 18 August 2012.
  16. "About Us". Hacienda Publishing (2011). Retrieved 8 May 2014.
  17. 1 2 Who's Who in Georgia 1988–89. Atlanta, GA: Southern Highlands Foundation. 1989. p. 149.
  18. 1 2 "NCBI/PubMed Faria MA Jr". Retrieved 8 May 2014.
  19. 1 2 "NCBI/PubMed Faria MA". Retrieved 8 May 2014.
  20. 1 2 "Goggle Scholar Listing Faria MA". Retrieved 8 May 2014.
  21. Schlachter LB, Fleischer AS, Faria MA Jr, Tindall GT (November 1980). "Multifocal Intracranial Arteriovenous Malformations". Neurosurgery 1980 Nov;7(5):440-4 7 (5): 440–4. PMID 7442986.
  22. Faria MA Jr, Hoffman JC, O'Brien MS. "Metrizamide Cisternography and the management of the Chiari II malformation". Child's Brain. 1984;11(4):242-9. Retrieved 18 August 2012.
  23. Faria MA Jr (1988). "Symptomatic Arnold-Chiari Malformations". J Neurosurg 1988 Feb;68(2):316-7 68 (2): 316–7. PMID 3339451. Retrieved 18 August 2012.
  24. Faria MA Jr, O'Brien MS, Tindall GT (1980). "A technique for the evaluation of ventricular shunts using Amipaque and computerized tomography". J Neurosurg 1980 Jul;53(1):92-6 53: 92. doi:10.3171/jns.1980.53.1.0092.
  25. Tindall GT, Moore W, Faria MA Jr. Neurosurgery – The Year in Review (1981). Contemporary Neurosurgery. GT Tindall and D. Long, editors. Volume 3, Lesson 27, 1982.
  26. "Faria: ObamaCare — Toward Free Market or Socialized Medicine?". GOPUSA.com, 26 September 2011. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
  27. Faria, MA Jr. "ObamaCare – Another Step Toward Corporate Socialized Medicine". Surg Neurol Int 2012;3:71. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
  28. 1 2 "Goggle Book Citations". Miguel A. Faria MD. Retrieved 8 May 2014.
  29. "Faria Appointed to CDC Committee". Health Care News staff (1 January 2003). Retrieved 18 August 2012.
  30. Hendrick B, Rochell A. CDC defends its research on guns, AIDS – Foes fault violence studies, estimate of non-gay risk. Atlanta Journal Constitution, 12 May 1996, p. 1A, A12-A13.
  31. Nesmith J. CDC's violent injury unit criticized. Atlanta Journal Constitution, 7 March 1996, p. A15.
  32. Associated Press. CDC fights to save gun program. Printed in the Macon Telegraph, 14 July 1996.
  33. Nesmith J. A debate on guns and health. Conservative lawmakers: Agency spreads anti-firearm propaganda. Atlanta Journal Constitution, 2 May 1996, A13.
  34. 1 2 Rochell, A. "Funding ends for study that drew fire of gun lobby". Atlanta Journal Constitution: 2 May 1996, A13.
  35. Kates DB, Schaffer HE, Waters WC. "Public Health Pot Shots – How the CDC Succumbed to the 'Gun' Epidemic". Reason, April 1997, pp. 25–29. Archived from the original on 21 October 2009. Retrieved 18 August 2012.
  36. Suter EA, et al. (March 1994). "Guns in the Medical Literature – A Failure of Peer Review". J Med Assoc Ga 1994;83(13):133–148 83 (3): 133–48. PMID 8201280.
  37. Suter EA, Waters WC, Murray GB, et.al (June 1995). "Violence in America – Effective Solutions". J Med Assoc Ga 1995;84(6):253–263 84 (6): 253–63. PMID 7616135.
  38. Kates DB, Schaffer HE, Lattimer JK, Murray GB, Cassem EH. "Guns and public health: epidemic of violence or pandemic of propaganda?". Tennessee Law Review 1995;62:513–596. Retrieved 18 August 2012.
  39. 1 2 Carter, GL (2012). Guns in American Society: An Encyclopedia of History, Politics, Culture, and the Law (Second ed.). Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, LLC. p. 781. ISBN 978-0313386701.
  40. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Funding Opportunity Announcements, Additional Requirements – AR-13: Prohibition on Use of CDC Funds for Certain Gun Control Activities in DHS-CDC". Retrieved 18 August 2012.
  41. Maley, D (12 March 1990). "Doctor just back from El Salvador cites misconceptions about the war". Macon Telegraph and News.
  42. Irvine, R (1 December 1990). "Notes from the editor's cuff: Two AIM members who have not forgotten the victims". AIM Report.
  43. Smith, S (25 December 1990). "Medical equipment from U.S. brightens Christmas in El Salvador". The Macon Telegraph, p. 1B.
  44. Corson, E (2 January 1991). "Macon MD gets help for El Salvador wounded". The Macon Telegraph, p. 4A.
  45. Associated Press. Ga. medical journal defends guns as protection. Printed in the Macon Telegraph, 20 March 1994.
  46. Tucker C. Journal with disregard for life. Atlanta Journal Constitution, 18 June 1995.
  47. Francis S. Doctors prescribe common sense for those who call crime a disease. Tribune Review, 3 July 1995.
  48. Francis S. Divergent diagnoses on gun ills. Washington Times, 18 August 1995.
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  51. Kent PA. MD's ill treatment. Augusta Chronicle, 30 August 1995, p. 4A.
  52. Orient J. Editor causes "discomfort"; pressured to resign. AAPS News, September 1995.
  53. 1 2 "Major Medical Journal Announces New "Truth-In-Research" Editorial Policy" (Press release). AAPS. 31 August 1999. Retrieved 14 August 2012.
  54. Blaylock RL. "A Tribute to Dr. Miguel Faria." (PDF). Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons 2003;8(1):3. Retrieved 18 August 2012.
  55. Pomeroy, Ross. "Drilling Holes in Heads: A Brief History". realclearscience. Retrieved 3 April 2014.
  56. de Andrada, Bernardo. "A brief History of Psychosurgery". Neurocirurgiao. Retrieved 3 April 2014.
  57. Emanuel EJ. "Why I hope to die at 75: An argument that society and families - and you - will be better off if nature takes its course swiftly and promptly.". The Atlantic. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
  58. Faria MA. "Bioethics and why I hope to live beyond age 75 attaining wisdom!: A rebuttal to Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel′s 75 age limit". Surg Neurol Int 2015;6:35. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
  59. Faria MA. "Longevity and compression of morbidity from a neuroscience perspective: Do we have a duty to die by a certain age?". Surg Neurol Int 2015;6:49. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
  60. Faria MA. "Stalin's Mysterious Death". Surg Neurol Int 2011;2:161. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
  61. Faria MA. "The Jewish Doctors Plot — The Aborted Holocaust in Stalin's Russia". Hacienda Publishing. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
  62. Givens JR, ed. (1982). Hormone Secreting Pituitary Tumors. Year Book Medical Publishers, Inc. pp. 275–297. ISBN 0-8151-3530-0.
  63. Fein J, Flamm E, ed. (1985). Cerebrovascular Surgery (Volume III). Springer-Verlag. pp. 785–804. ISBN 0-387-96041-4.
  64. Matsumoto S, Sato K, Tamaki N, ed. (1985). Annual Review of Hydrocephalus, Volume 3. Tokyo, Japan: Neuron Publishing, Co. pp. 120–121. ISBN 978-4931101210.
  65. Bennett JT, DiLorenzo TJ. From Pathology to Politics: Public Health in America. Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick, NJ, 2000, p. 57. ISBN 978-0765800237
  66. Russo G, Molton S. Brothers in Arms: The Kennedys, The Castros, and the Politics of Murder. Bloomsbury USA, New York, NY, 2009, p. 43. ISBN 1596915323
  67. Savage M. Trickle Up Poverty: Stopping Obama’s Attack on Our Borders, Economy, and Security. William Morrow, New York, NY, 2010, p. 331. ISBN 0062010972
  68. HRH Princess Michael of Kent. The Serpent and the Moon: Two Rivals for the Love of a Renaissance King. Touchstone, New York, NY, 2005, p. 383. ISBN 978-0743251044
  69. Lett D. Phoenix Rising: The Rise and Fall of the American Republic. AuthorHouse, Bloomington, IN, 2008, p. 562. ISBN 978-1434364111
  70. Perez L, and De Aragon U. Cuban Studies 34 (Pittsburgh Cuban Studies). University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, PA, 2004, p. 263. ISBN 978-0822942191
  71. Pratt LD. On the Firing Line: Essays in the Defense of Liberty. Legacy Publishing, Franklin, TN, 2001, p. 150. ISBN 978-1880692516
  72. Bijlefeld M. People For and Against Gun Control: A Biographical Reference. Greenwood Press, Westport, CT, 1999, pp. 86–89. ISBN 978-0313306907
  73. Egendorf, Laura K (Ed) (2005). Guns and Violence —Current Controversies. Farmington Hills, Michigan: Thomson Gale —Greenhaven Press. pp. 39–53. ISBN 0737722061.
  74. Hyman, DA (1995). "Book Review of Vandals at the Gates of Medicine – Historic Perspectives on the Battle Over Health Care Reform". The New England Journal of Medicine, February 23, 1995 – Vol. 332, No. 8, pp. 542–543. p. 542. doi:10.1056/NEJM199502233320818.
  75. Meier CF. "Medical Warrior: A Reminder of the Past Failings of Socialistic Meddling with the Medical Marketplace". Ideas on Liberty 1998;48(12):753–754. Retrieved 18 August 2012.
  76. Blaylock RL. "Book Review of Cuba in Revolution – Escape From a Lost Paradise". NewsMax.com, 11 January 2002. Retrieved 18 August 2012.
  77. Kantor M. "An Evening with Dr. Faria.". FrontPageMagazine.com, 4 June 2002. Retrieved 18 August 2012.
  78. McMillan C. "Why is there no Thanksgiving in Havana?". WorldNetDaily.com, 28 November 2002. Retrieved 18 August 2012.

External links

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