Kevin Lillehei, MD, has been part of the University of Colorado Cancer Center from the beginning.
Lillehei came to CU in 1985, at the same time that Paul Bunn, MD, the CU Cancer Center’s first director, arrived at what was then called the CU Health Sciences Center at Ninth Avenue and Colorado Boulevard in Denver. After 19 years as chair of the Department of Neurosurgery, Lillehei will step down this summer to continue his work treating patients diagnosed with brain tumors.
We spoke with Lillehei about how brain tumors are diagnosed and treated, and what changes he has seen in the field over the past 40 years.