Charles Anthony Fager (January 16, 1924 - April 8, 2014) was an American neurosurgeon, medical academic, and leader at the Lahey Hospital & Medical Center.
Following the completion of his fellowship, he joined the neurosurgery department at Lahey Hospital & Medical Center, where he spent the remainder of his career, over the years serving as chair of the Department of Neurosurgery, vice chair of the Board of Governors, member of the Lahey Clinic Foundation Board of Trustees, chair of the Medical Practice Council, and chair of the Division of Surgery.[3]
His many publications concerned the appropriate selection of patients and the proper indications and operations for surgery. These focused on the importance of posterior and posterolateral operations for cervical disc lesions. He spoke regularly at postgraduate courses and seminars, and wrote chapters in textbooks on these subjects.[6]
Fager received the Dudley Award in Medicine from New York State University Downstate Medical Center and the Lifetime achievement Award from the Joint Section on Disorders of the Spine of the AANS & CNS in 1992. He was a member of the American Board of Neurological Surgery from 1976 to 1983. He gave a number of guest lectures, the Teachenor Memorial, The Balado Memorial and the Gardner Lectures, among them. In 2000, he received the Gold Medal of the Neurological Society of America.
In 1965, Fager saved the life of John A. Nerud, a horse trainer who had a blood clot on his brain.[8] Profoundly thankful, Nerud named a horse after Fager, who soon became a fan of horseracing. The horse, Dr. Fager, was a record-setter, horse of the year in 1968, and the only horse to win four championships in a single year.[9][10][11][12]
Atlas of spinal surgery - Volume 17 (1989),[5][13]
Stop talking to the jury: stories of a medical witness (2004)[14]
Quality of the Issue: Memoirs and Perspectives of a Neurosurgeon (2001)[15]
A Hole in the Wind : The Story of a Man and His Horse (2004)[16]
Analysis of failures and poor results of lumbar spine surgery (1980) Fager, CA; Freidberg, SR (1980). "Analysis of failures and poor results of lumbar spine surgery". Spine. 5 (1): 87–94. doi:10.1097/00007632-198001000-00015. PMID7361201. S2CID45885789.
Intrasellar epithelial cysts (1966) Fager, CA; Carter, H (1966). "Intrasellar Epithelial Cysts". Journal of Neurosurgery. 24 (1): 77–81. doi:10.3171/jns.1966.24.1.0077. PMID5903300.
Results of adequate posterior decompression in the relief of spondylotic cervical myelopathy (1973) Fager, CA (1973). "Results of adequate posterior decompression in the relief of spondylotic cervical myelopathy". Journal of Neurosurgery. 38 (6): 684–692. doi:10.3171/jns.1973.38.6.0684. PMID4710650.
Management of Cervical Disc Lesions And Spondylosis by Posterior Approaches (1977) Fager, CA (1977). "Management of Cervical Disc Lesions And Spondylosis by Posterior Approaches". Neurosurgery. 24 (CN_suppl_1): 488–507. doi:10.1093/neurosurgery/24.CN_suppl_1.488. PMID583694.
Intracranial Aneurysms Results of Surgical Treatment (1960) Fager, CA; Poppen, JL (1960). "Intracranial Aneurysms Results of Surgical Treatment". Journal of Neurosurgery. 17 (2): 283–296. doi:10.3171/jns.1960.17.2.0283. PMID14434182.