Atlantic Brain and Spine is extending its subspecialized approach to neurological care into an entirely new patient population, adding pediatric neurosurgery to a practice that has spent years building focused, condition specific programs for adults. The Morristown based group recently welcomed Kate T. Carroll, MD, a fellowship trained pediatric neurosurgeon who will see patients at the practice’s Morristown office and its newly opened Edison location, marking the group’s first formal entry into pediatric neurological surgery.

A Subspecialist Trained Across the Full Range of Pediatric Neurosurgery

Carroll brings training spanning the full breadth of pediatric neurosurgery, with particular clinical focus on pediatric brain and spine tumors, craniosynostosis, Chiari malformation, hydrocephalus, tethered cord syndrome, and spina bifida. She completed her neurosurgical residency at the University of Washington School of Medicine before undertaking fellowship training in pediatric neurological surgery at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, working alongside specialists from both Weill Cornell Medicine and Columbia University. During that fellowship, she trained directly with specialists in craniofacial reconstruction and advanced endoscopic techniques, gaining experience in minimally invasive approaches to conditions that have historically required more extensive open surgery.

Beyond her clinical training, Carroll has built a research record that extends well past the operating room, authoring more than 60 peer reviewed scientific publications and earning selection to the inaugural national cohort of the Society of Neurological Surgeons’ Neurosurgeon Scientist Training Program, through which she secured a competitive research grant to study depression following aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage. That combination of high volume clinical training and active research involvement reflects the kind of fellowship trained subspecialist Atlantic Brain and Spine has built its broader reputation around recruiting.

Applying an Adult Care Model to Children

Carroll’s recruitment extends a strategy Atlantic Brain and Spine has relied on throughout its adult practice, building focused programs around physicians with narrow, deep expertise rather than asking every surgeon to cover a broad range of conditions. Yaron Moshel, MD, PhD, president of Atlantic Brain and Spine and chair of neurosurgery at Morristown Medical Center, said neurosurgery has become increasingly subspecialized industry wide, and that Carroll’s arrival lets the practice begin applying that same focused approach to pediatric patients that it has already established for adults.

That coordination extends beyond neurosurgery itself. For children with complex spinal conditions, Carroll can work directly alongside Farah Musharbash, MD, an orthopedic spine surgeon at the practice whose own work includes pediatric scoliosis and minimally invasive robotic pars repair, giving families access to combined neurosurgical and orthopedic spine expertise under one practice rather than requiring separate referrals across institutions. Pediatric brain tumor care carries its own layer of complexity, often requiring coordination with neuro-oncology, radiation oncology, neuroradiology, and other pediatric specialists depending on a child’s specific diagnosis. Kelly framed that infrastructure building as the actual point of the expansion, saying the goal was never simply to add a pediatric surgery line item to the practice’s service list, but to build the relationships and coordination that give families a clear path through what can otherwise be an overwhelming health care experience.

Why Edison Matters to the Strategy

Carroll’s arrival coincides with Atlantic Brain and Spine’s broader geographic expansion into Central Jersey, anchored by a new office at 100 Dey Place in Edison. That location gives Middlesex County families access to the practice’s subspecialized physicians without requiring a trip north to Morristown, part of a deliberate shift in how the practice approaches growth, bringing physicians into additional communities rather than centralizing every subspecialty in a single flagship office.

Carroll has pointed directly to why that geographic proximity matters specifically for pediatric families, noting that a child’s complex neurological diagnosis affects an entire household, not just the patient, as families juggle appointments, school, work, and the uncertainty that comes with a child needing specialized care. Being able to access that expertise closer to home, she said, can make a genuinely meaningful difference for families already managing enough.

Part of a Broader Pattern of Growth

The pediatric expansion builds on programs Atlantic Brain and Spine has already established around complex brain tumors, skull base and pituitary conditions, facial pain and spasm, epilepsy, neurovascular disease, and complex spinal disorders in its adult practice. Kelly described the underlying philosophy behind all of it consistently, saying growth for the practice was never about simply getting bigger, but about identifying real opportunities to offer something meaningfully different for patients, whether that meant recruiting a new subspecialist or opening in a new community. With Carroll now seeing patients across Morristown and Edison, and with the practice’s stated intention to build out dedicated pediatric brain tumor and craniofacial programs over the longer term, Atlantic Brain and Spine appears to be treating this expansion as the beginning of a sustained pediatric program rather than a single hire meant to check a box on its service list.