Dr Charles Hodge: Better Patient Care The diagnostic process is a critical part of the care medical professionals provide to patients, regardless of the disease or ailment they are affected by. As experienced neurosurgeon and vCases Chief Medical Officer Dr Charles Hodge understands, patient diagnosis sets the stage for all treatment and care the individual patient receives, emphasizing the need for diagnostic accuracy. Dr Charles Hodge was a leader within the SUNY Upstate Medical University environment for many years, and was honored to have been the Chairman of the school’s Neurosurgery Department for nearly two of those decades. As the head of the department, as well as a dedicated educator, Dr Charles Hodge placed a strong emphasis on both research and problem-solving, creating an atmosphere more conducive to thoughtful, competent and safe patient treatment. His focus on giving patients the most effective treatment centered around the development of more comprehensive and accurate diagnoses, a skill and emphasis he has carried into his role as a vCases consultant, representative and Chief Medical Officer.
Dr Charles Hodge understands the enormous problem of misdiagnoses, one that currently plagues much of the medical community and that, in some cases, has dire consequences for numerous patients and physicians. As someone with experience and expertise in both medicine and education, Dr Charles Hodge knows how important it is to meet this problem head on, and to provide medical professionals the diagnostic training, tools and approach needed to make treatments safer more effective than ever before. Dr Charles Hodge and several other physicians are currently supporting the development of an online diagnostics training program, one that will deliver both aspiring and experienced medical professionals, as well as medical institutions, real-life patient evaluations in a simulated type of format. The vCases technology is aimed at providing physicians practical experience in patient evaluation, exposing them to patients afflicted with any number of both common and rare diseases. The vCases method seeks to place a focus on patient history and background first, followed then by careful examination and the most appropriate laboratory and imaging testing. Dr Charles Hodge has always taken a comprehensive, thoughtful and focused approach to patient treatment, and strives to make this approach an essential part of the vCases training program. Both Hodge and his associates look forward to a future free of medical misdiagnosis, and share the belief that vCases will help to reduce this all too common problem.