The Harrison Carter and Catherine Carter Fund for Minimimally Invasive Pediatric Neurosurgery

The Harrison Carter and Catherine Carter Fund for Minimally Invasive Neurosurgy was founded by the Carter family out of gratitude to the CHOP Neurosurgery Department for changing their son Harrison's life.  Dr. Benjamin Kennedy of CHOP was able to successfully utalize a non-invasive, laser approach to remove the scarring in Harrison's brain that producted the majority of Harrison's seizure activity caused by Epilepsy.

The Carters made a substantial gift to start this fund in order to provide more families of children suffering with epilepsy the awareness of and access to the neurosurgery team at CHOP, for potentially life-altering and/or curative, minimially invasive brain surgery.

The Fund's Mission:  Advancing Epiliepsy Care and Cures Through Innovation 

The Harrison Carter and Catherine Carter Fund for Minimally Invasive Pediatric Neurosurgery (the "Fund")  supports research and promotion of novel neurosurgical strategies to cure or improve outcomes for children diagnosed with epilepsy. 

Currently, clinicians face challenges in making precise surgical decisions for epilepsy patients by analyzing brain waves and pixels on screens, a time-consuming process with limitations. The  Fund aims to revolutionize this practice by supporting the research and deployment of AI to integrate genetic data with functional imaging, enhancing pre-surgical understanding and improving outcomes.  Through the research supported by this Fund, pediatric neurosurgeons will be able to make more data-driven decisions to evaluate the efficiacy of how, when and if to operate using laser and other minimially invasive approaches. 

Capital raised through the Fund is used at the discretion of Dr. Benjamin Kennedy, head of epilepsy surgery at CHOP, and is guided by three core principles: research, education and access.

Research: The Fund supports integrating multi-omic genetic data, imaging, EEGs, and clinical notes with AI to enhance decision-making and surgical techniques. The goal is to create a comprehensive neurosurgical epilepsy dataset, fostering collaboration with other institutions to improve surgical outcomes.

Education: Training future clinician-scientists is crucial.  Supporting the Harrison Carter and Catherine Carter Fund for Minimally Invasive Pediatric Neurosurgery will establish a fellowship program under Dr. Kennedy, expanding his patient care capabilities and disseminating expertise nationwide.

Access: The Fund will also support outreach to neurologists in underserved areas, promoting non-invasive surgical techniques and making data and resources accessible globally.

Hope for Families Fund  

In addition, the Harrison and Catherine Carter Hope for Families Fund alleviates financial burdens for families during hospital stays at CHOP.

As we envision a bold new future for epilepsy research and care, we thank you for joining us in charting the path forward. Any philanthropic investment you contribute to the Fund will go a long way toward ensuring that CHOPs AI neurosurgery research propels pediatric epilspsy surgery nto a future of research-informed, personalized care. Together, we can help improve and save countless lives.

We need your help to complete the CHOP Neurology Department fundraising objectives.  All money gifted will be exclusively managed by CHOP and is 100% tax deductible.

Tax ID number it’s #23-2237932