Member Spotlight

June 2025

Tessa Harland, MD

PGY-6 Neurosurgical Resident
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Albany Medical College
Albany, NY
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​NANS member since 2021
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NANS members can find me on X
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​Tessa Harland, MD is a sixth-year neurosurgery resident at Albany Medical College with a strong clinical and research focus in neuromodulation. Her work centers on spinal cord stimulation, machine learning for pain outcome predictions, and techniques in deep brain stimulation. Dr. Harland currently serves as the co-chair of NANS-RFS. Her leadership extends to roles such as co-hosting the American Society of Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery podcast and contributing to education and mentorship efforts within neurosurgery and neuromodulation. She will complete a fellowship in functional neurosurgery at Vanderbilt University in 2026-2027. 
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Areas of Interest:
Functional neurosurgery, including surgical interventions for pain, movement disorders, psychiatric disorders, and epilepsy.
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Why I enjoy what I do:
I find it incredibly rewarding that we can make a real, tangible difference in patients’ lives, directly helping them to regain function and improve their quality of life. It’s exciting to be a part of a rapidly evolving field at the forefront of innovation and it’s motivating to know that our work today can help shape the future of patient care. 

How I became interested in neuromodulation:
The helplessness I felt growing up watching my brother struggle with self-injurious manifestations of Tourette Syndrome and OCD sparked a drive to understand the underlying mechanisms of his symptoms and fostered an early appreciation for the functional impacts of disease on quality of life. Neuromodulation, with its focus on targeting disease mechanisms to restore function and improve quality of life, emerged as a powerful and intuitive extension of that early motivation. 
 
The best thing about NANS:
What I value most about NANS is the community it fosters. It brings together mentors who support and guide your professional development and peers who share your interests and drive. That sense of connection and shared purpose is what makes it so impactful.

​My favorite book:
It’s hard to settle on an official favorite book, but I recently read Walking Out on the Boys by Frances Conley, and it left me deeply appreciative of the pioneering women in our field. 
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Words to live by:
Work hard, be kind, stay curious

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