Alexander M. Spence

Professor of Neurology and Pathology (Neuropathology)
Adjunct Professor of Neurosurgery
Biology of brain tumor, neuroimaging

Dr. Spence earned his medical degree at the University of Chicago School of Medicine. He believes that one must take ones job, but not ones self, seriously. He finds his work practicing medicine both interesting and challenging.

Research Profile Web Page

CURRICULUM VITAE

Education

University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 1958-1961
University of Chicago School of Medicine, M.D. Degree 1961-1965

Postgraduate Training

Rotating Internship, University of Oregon School
of Medicine 1965-1966

Neurology Residency, Children's Hospital Medical Center
and Peter Bent Brigham Hospital,
Boston, Massachusetts 1966-1969

Resident and NINDS Special Fellow in Neuropathology,
Stanford University Medical Center,
Stanford, California 1971-1974

Faculty Positions Held

Instructor in Neurology, Beth Israel Hospital, Harvard
Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 1969

Acting Instructor in Pathology (Neuropathology), Stanford
Medical Center, Stanford, California 1971

Assistant Professor of Medicine (Neurology) and Pathology
(Neuropathology), University of Washington School of
Medicine, Seattle, Washington 1974-1979

Associate Professor of Medicine (Neurology) and Pathology
(Neuropathology), University of Washington School of
Medicine, Seattle, Washington 1979-1987

Professor of Medicine (Neurology) and Pathology
(Neuropathology), University of Washington School of
Medicine, Seattle, Washington 1987-1996

Professor of Neurology and Pathology (Neuropathology),
Adjunct Professor of Medicine, University of Washington
School of Medicine, Seattle, Washington 1996-present

Affiliate, Child Development and Mental Retardation Center,
University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 1976-present

Adjunct Professor of Neurological Surgery, University of
Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, Washington 1991-present
Adjunct Professor of Medicine, University of Washington
School of Medicine, Seattle, Washington 1996-present

Hospital Positions Held

Staff Neurologist, Beth Israel Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 1969

Chief Neurologist, USAF Hospital,
Carswell Air Force Base, Texas 1969-1971

Consultant, Pediatric Neurology, Fort Worth Child Guidance Clinic,
Fort Worth, Texas 1970-1971

Attending Neurologist, University of Washington Hospital,
Seattle, Washington 1974-present

Attending Neurologist, Harborview Medical Center,
Seattle,Washington 1974-present

Part-time Consultant in Neuropathology, University Hospital,
Children's Orthopedic Hospital, Veterans Administration
Hospital, Harborview Medical Center, King County Medical
Examiner's Office, Seattle Public Health Hospital, and
Virginia Mason Hospital, Seattle, Washington 1974-present

Part-time Consultant in Neuro-oncology, Veterans Administration Hospital 1993-present

Associate Member Seattle Cancer Care Alliance Medical Staff 2001-present

Military Status

Major, USAF, Carswell Air Force Base, Texas 1969-1971

Honors

Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society 1965

Joseph Capps Award for Clinical Proficiency,
University of Chicago School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois 1965

America's Top Doctors, Castle Connolly 2001

Board Certification

Diplomate of the National Board of Medical Examiners 1966

Certified in Neurology by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology 1971

Licensure to Practice

California 1970-1981
Colorado 1970-1978
Massachusetts 1969-present
Texas 1970-1987
Washington 1974-present

Organizations

American Academy of Neurology (AAN) 1971-present
Fellow, AAN 1981-present
Puget Sound Neurological Society 1974-present
North Pacific Society of Neurology and Psychiatry 1975-present
American Association of Neuropathologists 1976-present
King County Medical Society 1976-present
Washington State Medical Association 1976-present
American Neurological Association 1982-present
Radiation Research Society 1984-present
Society of Nuclear Medicine 1986-present
International Society of Cerebral
Blood Flow and Metabolism 1988-present
American Association of Neurological Surgeons,
Adjunct Member Joint Section on Tumors 1988-present
North American Society for Neuro-Oncology 1994-present
International Society of Neuropathology 1996

Special Local and National Responsibilities

Associate Examiner for the American Board of Psychiatry 1977, 1978,
and Neurology 1982, 1995,
1996, 1997,
1998

NIH Site Visit Team review of Z-R01-CA29117-05,
(Dr. Edward Gillette, P.I.) Fort Collins, CO 1984

Consultant Neuropathologist for a Program Project to NINCDS from the University of Oregon School
of Medicine entitled, "Mechanisms of Injury and Repair in Ischemic Stroke." 1986-1988

CNS Workshop on Radiation Biology for Clinical Management of Gliomas, St. Louis, MO. 1987

NINDS Special Study Section for Feasibility Grants for Brain-Tumor Research Centers 1992

NINDS Positron Emission Tomography Workshop 1992

Puget Sound Oncology Consortium 1987-present

Southwest Oncology Group Brain Committee Member 1991-present

Southwest Oncology Group Brain Committee
Representative in Neuro-oncology 1998-present

North American Brain Tumor Consortium 1994-1997

National Comprehensive Cancer Network Central Nervous System Panel 1999-present

National Cancer Institute/Mouse Models for Human Cancers Consortium Neuro-Oncology
Models Forum 2000

Service Responsibilities

Institutional Cancer Grant Committee 1975-1980 1989-1992
1997-1998
1999-2000

Medical Student Research Training Program, Project Evaluation Committee 1977-1978

HuBio 532 Course Committee 1977-present

Faculty Senator for Department of Medicine 1979-1981

Search Committee for Chief of Neurology of Seattle Veterans Administration Hospital 1983-1984

Search Committee for Chairman of Psychiatry for University of Washington School of Medicine 1984

Department of Pathology Appointment and Promotions Committee 1984-1989

University Hospital Medical Quality Assurance Committee 1985-1990

HuBio 542, 550, 566, 560 ICM II Resource Groups 1986-present

Neuro-Oncology Tumor Board, University of Washington Affiliated Hospitals 1986-present

Search Committee for Chairman of Neurology for University of Washington School of Medicine 1994

Search Committee for Neuropathology 1995-1999

Review Committee for Chairman Position, Department of Neurosurgery 1996

Medical Thesis Committee 1997-1998

Search Committee for neuromuscular disease faculty member for Department of Neurology 1997-1998

Search Committee for neuroimmunology faculty member for Department of Neurology 1997-1998

Appointments and Promotions Working Group Clinician/ Educator Track,
Department of Neurology 1996-1998

Faculty Council on Research and Graduate Education,
University of Washington School of Medicine 1998-present

Search Committee for Chairman of Radiation Oncology
for University of Washington School of Medicine 1998

Search Committee for neuro-oncology faculty member
for Department of Neurology 1998-2001

University of Washington Medical Center
Clinical Cancer Committee 2001

Visiting Lectures and Continuing Medical Education Lectures

IMR - Neurology for Internists (CMEO906AH) 6/27/79

IMR - Neurology (CMEO906R) 2/27/80

IMR - Neurology for General Internist (CMEO906AS) 6/03/81

Advances in Internal Medicine (CMEO906) 10/20/82

Drug Therapy (CME 0911) ll/03/83

Visiting Lecturer, Boise VA Hospital 6/01/84

Neurology Update (CME1142) 10/12/84

Alzheimer's Disease (CME1168) 11/09/84

Current Problems in Neurology(Oregon Health Sciences University) 12/07/85

General Oncology Update (CME 1213) 4/3/86

Visiting Speaker, UCLA School of Medicine 7/2/86

Annual Review of Neurosurgery (CME0942) 10/15/87

International Symposium of Pediatric Neuro-Oncology 06/03/89

Visiting Speaker, USC School of Medicine 06/92

NINDS Positron Emission Tomography Workshop 1992

6th International Conference: Peace Through Mind/BrainScience,
Hamamatsu City, Japan, February, 02/96

The Society of Nuclear Medicine, Pacific Northwest Chapter, 1998 Annual Spring Meeting,
Vancouver, B.C. 03/98

PET/SPECT Imaging in Oncology: Doing the Right Imaging the Right Way, UCLA, Los Angeles 03/98

Brain Tumors: American Physical Therapy Association Annual Meeting, Seattle, WA, 02/99

Assessing Glucose Metabolic Response to Radiotherapy in Malignant Gliomas:
Southwest Oncology Group Meeting, San Diego, CA 10/24/99

Gliomas: Where are we? Legacy Health Systems Continuing Education Lecture,
Portland, OR 09/12/00

Using Chemotherapy in the Treatment of Brain Tumors.
Southwest Oncology Group Meeting, New Orleans, LA 10/12/00

Paraneoplastic Neurologic Syndromes, Seattle Cancer Care Alliance Grand Rounds 08/21/01

Chemotherapy of Gliomas, Guilford Conference, Seattle, WA 11/03/01

Chemotherapy of Gliomas, Neurosurgery Grand Rounds, Seattle, WA 12/05/01

PET Detection of Gliomas and Radiotherapy, Creative Concepts Conference, Vail, Colorado 12/14/01

Brain Tumors, Keynote Speaker, Puget Sound Oncology Nurses Society 03/08/02

Teaching Responsibilities

Medicine 686, Neurology Clerkship: Neurology attending rounds, 2-4 hours/day, 5 days/week, 3 months/year; 18-24 hours of lectures/year. This includes all inpatient consultations at University Hospital.

HuBio 532, Nervous System: Course Committee since 1977; Lecture hours-4 per year at University of Washington and WAMI sites; Laboratory - 2 hours per year.

HuBio 550, Nervous System Physical Diagnosis: 12 hours of rounds with students/year.

Miscellaneous lectures in Neurology for CME courses, Internal Medicine Housestaff conferences, etc.: 6 hours/year.

Research Activities

Member of University of Washington positron emission tomography research group. The following program project has been active and funded since May 1, 1986 to present: 1 PO1 CA 42045 13; Metabolic Imaging of Cancer and its Response to Therapy; P.I., Kenneth Krohn, Ph.D.; direct costs $1,301,900/year. Dr. Spence is P.I. on Project 1 of 5 total with direct costs of ~ $250,000/year. These studies entail measurements of glucose metabolism in human gliomas and rat transplanted gliomas in response to external beam and interstitial radiotherapy.