I'm Evan Turnbull. I'm a physician assistant. I work here at UVA in the Department of Neurosurgery at the Spine Center. As a PA, I do history and physical exams with patients, both follow ups and new patients. What I like about the neurosurgery specialty is really the complexity and variety of conditions that we see. Diseases ranging from spinal conditions to peripheral nerves and brain conditions. I like a diagnostic challenge and thinking about things and trying to consider what the root problem is. I enjoy explaining those issues to patients and going over the imaging and spend a lot of time educating patients. I think that's really important. I hope that patients walk away with both a sense of empowerment and just better understanding of what's going on with them. To make them feel less concerned or more comforted in general.