The late Justin S. Cetas, MD, PhD, was a highly regarded neurosurgeon. As an educator, the compassion he instilled in his students lives on in the way they treat their own patients, and as a clinician, he was appreciated by his patients not just for his adroit surgical skills but also his ability to connect with those he treated on a personal level. He is missed for the laughter and smiles he inspired.
Dr. Cetas completed undergraduate studies at St. John’s College in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and then earned his doctorate in neuroscience and medical degree at the College of Medicine – Tucson.
He left Tucson to complete an internship in general surgery and residency in neurological surgery at the Oregon Health and Science University. While there, he also completed a fellowship with the Division of Skull Base and Cerebrovascular Neurosurgery, after which he joined the OHSU faculty as an assistant professor. He became an associate professor in 2016 and served as the department’s residency program director since 2017 and vice chair for education since 2019. He also has served as a member of the Oregon Trauma Audit Group and served on the research committee for the VA at the Portland VA Medical Center.
In 2021, Dr. Cetas returned to Tucson to serve as the chair for the Department of Neurosurgery.
Dr. Cetas authored or co-authored nearly 50 peer-reviewed papers, 10 book chapters and multiple abstracts related to his research. He has served in editorial and ad hoc review roles for the following journals: Acta Neurchirurgica, Translational Stroke Research, Brain Hemorrhages, Frontiers in Neuroscience, Neurocritical Care, Neurological Research, PLoS One, Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism, World Neurosurgery, Cell Death and Disease, and F-1000Prime.He has spoken as an invited lecturer at more than a dozen conferences and national and international events.