Paul Camarata, M.D., chair of the department of neurosurgery at the University of Kansas Medical Center, needed a haircut. The task had been bumped down on the list of priorities, though, with the global pandemic-driven local shelter-in-place orders that had temporarily shuttered business such as barbershops.

Meanwhile, seemingly no business or charity has been immune to the ripple effects of the coronavirus health crisis and the Brain Aneurysm Foundation (BAF) was no different. The charity was projecting the loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue it needed to put its mission into action.

Camarata's wife, Karen, came up with a creative way to ease both the foundation's burden and get of her husband's shaggy locks by suggesting he shave his head for charity. The idea turned into Buzz for BAF.

As part of the fund-raising campaign, Camarata, who is a member of the organization's medical advisory board, shaved his head in support of each patient who leaves the hospital with less than a full head of hair and to raise money for a BAF research grant this year. Now he is inviting others to join him by donating to the cause, and, if so inclined, getting a fresh buzz.

"Just like most small businesses, charitable foundations are having a hard time during the COVID-19 crisis. I have shaved hundreds of heads through the years of patients with brain aneurysms, and I thought this would be a small way to give back to a very worthy cause," Camarata said. "I have to say, you can really feel the cold. If I had real courage, I would have done it in the winter!"

KU neurosurgery faculty members Justin Davis, M.D., and Adam Rouse, M.D., Ph.D., along with resident Joseph Domino, M.D., MPH, also shaved their heads for the cause.

"I decided to participate with Dr. Camarata since it was something simple I could do to try to have a positive impact on the patients we serve," Domino said. "It's a difficult time for every charitable foundation and the research the BAF supports is important. In a time when everyone is asked to give something up, subjecting myself to a ‘neurosurgical' haircut was an easy choice."