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Neurosurgery Resident Physician
Duke University
Ben Succop, Jr. is a first year neurosurgery resident physician at Duke University. He grew up in Morganton NC, in the foothills of the Blue Ridge mountains, and was first interested in neuroscience through the lens of exploring addiction, which had a devastating impact on rural Western NC communities. He attended Duke University on the Benjamin N. Duke scholarship, a full merit scholarship awarded for leadership and service. During his time at Duke he conducted basic neuroscience research in rodent models of addiction, helped unhoused Durham community members find housing through the Community Empowerment Fund, served as the representative of the Class of 2020 selected to the Duke Trinity Board of Visitors, and, most importantly, led the Cameron Crazies as Head Line Monitor of Krzyzewskiville. He graduated magna cum laude with Honors in Neuroscience and Chemistry.
Ben then accepted a merit scholarship to UNC School of Medicine, where he led a number of research projects including a grant funded Apple investigation using machine learning to guide EVD placement and a clinical trial testing internal jugular vein compression collars for treatment of venous pulsatile tinnitus. He also continued his commitment to improving access to care, earning an Albert Schweitzer service fellowship for building a care coordination network in the rural, underserved NC community of Whitakers and led UNC to first place in the International Mission: Brain Hackathon.
This past July, Ben matched at Duke Neurosurgery, where he is learning the fundamentals of excellence in neurosurgical patient care and continued his pursuit of service and research through Mission: BRAIN, applications of AI in neurosurgery, and new indications for applications of magnetic resonance guided focused ultrasound.