Dr. Bernardo is a Professor of Neurological Surgery and director of the Surgical Innovations Laboratory for Skull Base Microneurosurgery in the Department of Neurological Surgery at Weill Cornell Medical College. He is an expert in the understanding of microsurgical anatomy and a pioneer in developing three-dimensional surgical simulators to teach surgeons the visual-spatial skills required to perform skull base surgical approaches. His interactive virtual dissection (IVD) approach integrates cadaveric dissections, 3-D visualization, virtual reality, and computerized simulation for training of surgical procedures.
Dr. Bernardo received his M.D. from University of Naples “Federico II” where he graduated Summa cum Laude. He completed his Neurosurgery residency at Western General Hospital/University of Edinburgh in Edinburgh, Scotland. Dr. Bernardo served as a scholar at the University of California, Irvine from 1997 to 1999. He spent one year as a volunteer neurosurgeon in Peru, where he established skull base surgery programs in hospitals throughout the country, representing the Foundation for International Education in Neurosurgery (FIENS). In 2000, Dr. Bernardo became an Adjunct Professor of Neurosurgery and Director of the Microneurosurgery Skull Base Laboratory at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. Dr. Bernardo then completed a fellowship in Skull Base Surgery at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Arizona under Dr. Robert Spetzler. Dr. Bernardo subsequently joined the Department of Neurological Surgery at Weill Cornell Medical College as an Associate Professor and Director of the Skull Base and Microneurosurgery Laboratory. His research interests include skull base surgery, cerebrovascular surgery, and virtual reality in medicine and surgery.
Dr. Bernardo has established himself as a pioneer and expert in the understanding of microsurgical anatomy in skull base surgery. At the Barrow Neurological Institute he developed a three-dimensional surgical simulator to teach surgeons the visual-spatial skills required to perform skull base surgical approaches. The project, called interactive virtual dissection (IVD), integrates cadaveric dissections, 3-D visualization, virtual reality, and computerized simulation for the training of surgical procedures.
Dr. Bernardo has been invited to direct more than150 surgical courses worldwide and is frequently invited as a guest and honored speaker to international neurosurgical meetings. He has trained more than 4,000 neurosurgeons through his skull base surgery courses and 35 dedicated fellows since he has joined the Department of Neurological Surgery at Weill Cornell. Dr. Bernardo is currently a neurosurgical consultant in several countries where he continues to operate on complex skull base surgical cases on a routine basis. He is active member of the Italian Association of Neurosurgeons, the Register of Neurosurgeons of the United Kingdom, the American Congress of Neurosurgeons, and an honorary member of the Peruvian Association of Neurological Surgeons of the Peruvian Academy of Surgery, the Colombian Association of Neurological Surgeons, the Caribbean Association of Neurological Surgeons, and the Venezuelan Association of Neurological Surgeons.
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