Heather McCrea, MD - Pediatric Neurosurgeon

 

Dr. McCrea sees patients at the Division of Pediatric Neurosurgery in Nicklaus Children's Hospital's Main Campus.

Heather J. McCrea, MD, PhD, specializes in the field of pediatric neurosurgery. Her neurosurgical training was completed at New York Presbyterian-Weill Cornell and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. She then completed specialized fellowship training in pediatric neurosurgery and served as the Shillito Staff Associate at Boston Children’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School. Prior to her neurosurgical training, Dr. McCrea completed her undergraduate degree at Brown University with an ScB degree with honors in biochemistry and received her MD and PhD degrees from Yale University. Her PhD in cell biology was completed under the supervision of Dr. Pietro De Camilli, a noted cell biologist and neuroscientist and member of the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine. During her PhD, she studied a rare genetic disorder affecting the brain, eye, and kidney.

Dr. McCrea operates on the entire range of pediatric neurosurgical conditions, but has a particular interest in pediatric brain tumors, pediatric vascular conditions including Moya Moya, hydrocephalus, Chiari malformation, tethered cord, and traumatic brain injury. She also has significant expertise in the use of endoscopy to treat brain and pituitary tumors, hydrocephalus, intracranial cysts, and craniosynostosis.

In addition to her clinical practice, Dr. McCrea is an accomplished researcher with significant basic and translational science contributions, and she has presented her research both nationally and internationally. While in neurosurgical residency at New York Presbyterian-Weill Cornell she received a prestigious Neurosurgery Research and Education Foundation (NREF) research fellowship grant to support her research on the role of the vasculature in supporting brain tumor growth. Her current research focuses on understanding and developing new treatments for pediatric brain tumors, drug delivery across the blood brain barrier, intra-arterial chemotherapy for high-grade glioma and diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), and concussion/traumatic brain injury.


McCarthy, D.J, Sheinberg, D.L., Luther, E., McCrea, H.J. (2019). Myelomeningocele-associated hydrocephalus: nationwide analysis and systematic review. Neurosurgical focus, 47(4), E5. View in Pubmed

Niogi, S.N., Luther, N., Kutner, K., ..., McCrea, H. J., et al (2019). Increased sensitivity to traumatic axonal injury on postconcussion diffusion tensor imaging scans in National Football League players by using premorbid baseline scans . Journal of Neurosurgery, View in Pubmed

McAvoy, M., McCrea, H.J., Chavakula, V., et al (2019). Long-term outcomes of lumbar microdiscectomy in the pediatric population: a large single-institution case series . Journal of Neurosurgery. Pediatrics, View in Pubmed

Park, T., Nur Mustafaoglu, N., Herland, A., ..., McCrea, H.J., et al (2019). Hypoxia-enhanced Blood-Brain Barrier Chip recapitulates human barrier function and shuttling of drugs and antibodies . Nature communications, 10(1), 2621. View in Pubmed

Hovinga, K.E., McCrea, H.J., Brennan, C., et al (2019). EGFR amplification and classical subtype are associated with a poor response to bevacizumab in recurrent glioblastoma. Journal of neuro-oncology, 142(2), 337-345. View in Pubmed

Rodriguez-Blanco, J., Li, B., Long, J., ..., McCrea, H.J., et al (2019). A CK1α Activator Penetrates the Brain and Shows Efficacy Against Drug-resistant Metastatic Medulloblastoma. Clinical cancer research, 25(4), 1379-1388. View in Pubmed

Shamik Chakraborty, S., Filippi, C.G., Wong, T., ..., McCrea, H.J., et al (2016). Erratum to: Superselective intraarterial cerebral infusion of cetuximab after osmotic blood/brain barrier disruption for recurrent malignant glioma: phase I study . Journal of neuro-oncology, 128(3), 417. View in Pubmed

Chakraborty, S., Filippi, C.G., Wong, T., ..., McCrea, H.J., et al (2016). Superselective intraarterial cerebral infusion of cetuximab after osmotic blood/brain barrier disruption for recurrent malignant glioma: phase I study . Journal of neuro-oncology, 128(3), 405-415. View in Pubmed

McCrea, H.J. , George, E., Settler, A., et al (2016). Pediatric Suprasellar Tumors. Journal of Child Neurology, 31(12), 1367-1376. View in Pubmed

McCrea, H.J., Bander, E.D., Venn, R.A., et al (2015). Sex, Age, Anatomic Location, and Extent of Resection Influence Outcomes in Children With High-grade Glioma . Neurosurgery, 77(3), 443-452. View in Pubmed

Xu, R., McCrea, H.J., Hoffman, C.E., et al (2015). The Impact of Endoscopic Third Ventriculostomy on Shunt Revision Rate: A 14-Year Experience at a Single Institution . World neurosurgery, 84(3), 677-680. View in Pubmed

Banu, M.A., Guerrero-Maldonado, A., McCrea, H.J., et al (2014). Impact of skull base development on endonasal endoscopic surgical corridors. Journal of Neurosurgery. Pediatrics, 13(2), 155-169. View in Pubmed

Barnes, R.P., McCrea, H.J. (2013). Objective concussion assessment in athletics and diffusion tensor imaging . World neurosurgery, 80(6):796-7(6), 796-797. View in Pubmed

McCrea, H.J., Perrine, K. , Sumit Niogi, S., Härtl, R. (2013). Concussion in sports. Sports health, 5(2), 161-164. View in Pubmed

McCrea, H.J., Knopman, J., Engel, M., et al (2012). Concurrent anatomic hemispherectomy and thalamic arteriovenous malformation resection. Child's nervous system, 28(8), 1273-1277. View in Pubmed

Kramer, K., McCrea, H.J., Fischer, C., Greenfield, J.P. (2012). Establishing successful cerebrospinal fluid flow for radioimmunotherapy. Journal of Neurosurgery. Pediatrics, 9(3), 316-319. View in Pubmed

McCrea, H.J., Kretz, C., Laporte, J., Ment, L.R. (2009). Dementia in a child with myotubular myopathy. Pediatric neurology, 40(6), 483-485. View in Pubmed

McCrea, H.J., Camilli, P. (2009). Mutations in phosphoinositide metabolizing enzymes and human disease . Physiology, 24(), 8-10. View in Pubmed

McCrea, H.J., Ment, L.R. (2008). The diagnosis, management, and postnatal prevention of intraventricular hemorrhage in the preterm neonate . Clinics in perinatology, 35(4), 777-792. View in Pubmed

McCrea, H.J., Paradise, S., Tomasini, L., et al (2008). All known patient mutations in the ASH-RhoGAP domains of OCRL affect targeting and APPL1 binding. Biochemical and biophysical research communication, 369(2), 493-499. View in Pubmed

Erdmann, K.E., Mao, Y., McCrea, H.J., et al (2007). A role of the Lowe syndrome protein OCRL in early steps of the endocytic pathway . Developmental search, 13(3), 377-390. View in Pubmed

Colegio, O.R., Van Itallie, C.M., McCrea, H.J., et al (2002). Claudins create charge-selective channels in the paracellular pathway between epithelial cells . American journal of physiology. Cell physiology, 283(1), C142-C147. View in Pubmed

Primary Office

Address:
UM - Department of Pediatric Neurosurgery
1095 NW 14 Terrace
Miami, FL 33136
Phone Number:
305-585-5881

Education

Fellowship - Boston Children's Hospital
Residency - New York Presbyterian Hospital - Cornell
Medical School - Yale University School of Medicine

Board Certifications

American Board of Neurological Surgery - Certified
American Board of Pediatric Neurological Surgery - Certified