Department of Neurosurgery

Department Home >

  • Base >
  • You are here
Penn Neurosurgery

About Us

The Department was first established as a Division of the Department of Surgery in 1936 with Dr. Francis C. Grant as the first Charles Harrison Frazier Professor and Chairman. The full Department status was achieved in 1997.

Today, the Department of Neurosurgery performs over 4,000 operations annually at our three hospitals: the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP), Pennsylvania Hospital, and the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP).

Our faculty, 13 neurosurgeons, all have a particular subspecialty focus that covers the entire spectrum of surgically treated disorders of the nervous system. Given the enormous volume and intensity of exposure, patients benefit from that experience as well as the multidisciplinary approach to achieve the best possible result.

The Department is part of the Penn Comprehensive Neuroscience Center, which enables cooperation and collaboration among multiple departments including Neurology (medical treatment of nervous disorders including stroke, epilepsy, Parkinson's disease and others), Otorhinolaryngology (cranial base tumors, hearing and balance problems), Anesthesia (pain medicine) and Psychiatry (depression, obsessive compulsive disorders). Advances in research are directly translated into patient care to provide the latest and safest approach for surgical treatment of nervous system disorders.

The Department carries out an active research program in diseases and disorders that occur in the discipline. Research ranges from laboratory bench efforts to understand basic mechanisms of injury, recovery and tumor formation in the brain to drug and device trials designed to improve treatment of brain trauma, tumors, stroke and aneurysms as well as movement disorders.

  • The Center for Brain Injury and Repair is over 30 years old and is recognized internationally.
  • The Center for Functional and Restorative Neurosurgery focuses on surgical trials for treatment of Parkinson's disease, depression and epilepsy.
  • Clinical trials are coordinated through the Clinical Research Division, staffed by Nurse Practitioners to help execute over 30 ongoing trials with funding in excess of $1 million per year.

Overall the Department receives over $3 million annually in research funds, much of that from the National Institutes of Health.

Top ^