Teo, Charles (1957-…), an Australian physician, is known for developing innovative techniques in brain surgery . Teo is a pediatric neurosurgeon, a surgeon specializing in working with the brain and spinal cord of children. Techniques pioneered by Teo have enabled surgeons to operate on children and adults with brain tumors once considered untreatable.
Teo was born on Dec. 24, 1957, in Mosman, a suburb of Sydney . His parents, of Chinese descent, had immigrated to Australia from Singapore . He graduated from the University of New South Wales medical school in 1981. Teo worked in the United States for several years, improving his techniques in minimally invasive neurosurgery. In such a procedure, the surgeon operates on the brain using a device called an endoscope inserted through a nostril or a small hole in the skull. Such surgery is sometimes called keyhole surgery. The small size of the incisions greatly reduces recovery time for brain surgery patients.
Teo returned to Australia and became director of the Centre for Minimally Invasive Neurosurgery at Prince of Wales hospital in Sydney. He founded the Cure For Life Foundation (now called the Cure Brain Cancer Foundation) in Australia in 2001. The foundation raises awareness, advocates for patients, and raises funds for research on brain cancer treatments. He is also involved in efforts to promote conservation and animal welfare.
In 2011, Teo was made a Member of the Order of Australia . In 2013, Teo became the first Australian who was not a politician to address the United States Congress . He gave a speech on a new research initiative to understand the inner workings of the human brain. The initiative, called Brain Research Through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN), aims to record and map all the connections between neurons (nerve cells) in the human brain.
