Forrest Health Institute of Neuroscience Welcomes Members of Hattiesburg Mayor’s Youth Council

HATTIESBURG, Miss. – (March 7, 2024) On Wednesday, student members of the Mayor’s Youth Council in Hattiesburg toured the Forrest Health Institute of Neuroscience (FHIN), where they heard from neurosurgeon, Richard Clatterbuck, MD.

Clatterbuck, straight out of surgery to remove a brain tumor, talked to the students about leadership, noting it’s not a singular activity. “Leadership is not just for one of us, but for a group of us. I don’t think of leadership as being a quality of just one person. I think about it as a vehicle that people use to bring a group to a common goal.”

“I encourage you as you finish high school and go into college, to try and find groups to be a part of where the leaders are leading in the right direction, not the wrong direction,” he said. “We need people to lead us, point us in the right direction, and get us working together for a common goal. At Forrest Health, our Administrative team is working with all of our neurosurgeons trying build this institute into a world-class delivery care system for people who have problems with their brains and spines, so people right here in Hattiesburg and South Mississippi can benefit from world-class care locally.”

He noted that during the surgery on Wednesday, that while he may have been the leader in the room, “the leadership was really the vehicle I used to get all those people in that room moving in the same direction to accomplish a goal. And the goal today was to take a brain tumor out of somebody who was having symptoms from pressure on the brain.”

Clatterbuck said some people think about leadership as being something intangible, “but in my mind it’s something very practical. Leadership is about influencing people around you in a way that allows a group of people to accomplish something that any one person alone couldn’t do. When you think of leadership, think about the interconnections and interrelations of the people around you and how that together builds a stronger force to accomplish a goal.”

“I’ve known a lot of great leaders in my lifetime,” Clatterbuck said. “I think the best way to be a good leader is to watch the great leaders around you. And how they lead people.”

Clatterbuck shared his experience at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, where he trained with Ben Carson, MD. “Ben Carson is probably the best known neurosurgeon in the country, perhaps in the world,” Clatterbuck said. “I worked with and he trained me while I was at Johns Hopkins where I had one of the greatest experiences of my lifetime. I had the privilege to help separate Siamese twins from Germany who were joined at the head during a 36-hour procedure which included a variety of physician specialties.

“It’s one of the great examples of how leadership should work, in a broader sense,” said Clatterbuck, noting that Dr. Carson did very little of the physical surgery. “He was the mastermind behind it and the leader who brought the operation along, but he exerted his leadership and abilities through these other surgeons in the room.”

Clatterbuck said he knew he wanted to be a brain surgeon when he was 10 years old. “It was that or a fighter pilot,” he said. “I started wearing glasses at the age of 10 and fighter pilots could not wear glasses, so it was brain surgeon. I kept saying it and naturally, it came true.”

He reminded students what they say they want to be right now, if they really want it to be, then they can make it come true, but it takes a lot of work and dedication. Clatterbuck noted that from the time he finished high school in Slidell, La., to the time he was finished with all of his education and training, he was 20 years past high school.

“You never stop learning,” he said. “If you have a goal like that in mind, you have to be dedicated to it. It takes a lot of sacrifice and a lot of focus.. But anybody is capable of those things if they feel strong enough about what they want to do. I would do it all over again. It’s what I knew I wanted to do and what I did. It makes it a lot easier when you have a goal in mind. You understand you’re doing it, and it’s absolutely the right thing. You feel that inside, then it becomes easier to do.”

The Mayor’s Youth Council is made up of high school juniors and seniors who live in the city limits of Hattiesburg and are enrolled in a local high school/home school program. Students are required to participate in community service through sponsored events, meetings, and programs.

These students serve as youth ambassadors for the City of Hattiesburg while also providing them the opportunity to develop leadership and citizenship skills. Students promote, recognize, and advocate on behalf of issues and initiatives that impact the lives of young people in the Hub City.

Mohamad Akwieri, a senior at Hattiesburg High School, said he enjoys being a member off the Mayor’s Youth Council because of all the learning opportunities we get. “Today, I enjoyed learning about neuroscience, especially about the doctor,” said Akwieri. “He seems like he had a lot of learning experience.”

By being a part of the Council, Marion Reese, a Sacred Heart senior, appreciates the glimpse of Hattiesburg she normally wouldn’t see on a daily basis. “I would have never been able to come in and look around the neurosurgery department if it weren’t for this program,” she said. “It’s really interesting to see different things about Hattiesburg that you didn’t realize, and all the opportunities Hattiesburg has to offer.”

During the students’ visit, Forrest Health Vice President, Millie Swan, also played a game of hospital trivia with council members asking such questions as – what year did the hospital officially open, how many hospitals are there in the Forrest Health system, what expanded service that opened in the 1990s is celebrating 25 years this month? Those with correct answers won gift cards to popular Hattiesburg businesses.

The Institute of Neuroscience, which opened in the fall of 2023, has the ability to better serve patients with complex spinal disorders, nervous system disorders which include the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous systems, and a spine clinic.

For more information about the Forrest Health Institute of Neuroscience, visit forresthealth.org/FHIN.

About FORREST HEALTH INSTITUTE OF NEUROSCIENCE

The Forrest Health Institute of Neuroscience (FHIN) has the ability to better serve patients with complex spinal disorders, nervous system disorders which include the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous systems, and a spine clinic.

FHIN offers both a Midtown location and West Hattiesburg office. The Midtown facility includes eight exam rooms, a conference/consultation room, onsite X-ray, and offices for the providers, staff, and director, with ample parking on the east side of the facility.

Patients will enjoy a comfortable and modern outpatient clinic setting focused on personalized care with accessibility and convenience.

Patients are seen by a team of expert neurosurgeons, each with more than 20 years of experience, and vast knowledge in all areas of brain and spine surgery.