Dr. Schwartz is among the nation’s leading neurological surgeons specializing in brain tumor and epilepsy surgery. He has been named to the lists of New York’s Super Doctors, Best Doctors in New York magazine, America’s Top Surgeons, America’s Best Doctors, and America’s Best Doctors for Cancer. His research has been widely published and he has received numerous national awards. Dr. Schwartz has also appeared in the media on ABC, NBC, CBS, and Larry King, in addition to national radio shows. He is particularly known for advancing the use of state-of-the-art intraoperative technology, such as minimally invasive endoscopy, brain mapping, and intraoperative imaging. At Weill Cornell, he is Director of the Center for Epilepsy and Pituitary Surgery and Co-Director of Surgical Neuro-oncology. In 2014, Dr. Schwartz was named David and Ursel Barnes Professor of Minimally Invasive Brain Surgery, the first endowed professorship in the department. (See news item about the endowed position.)
Read Dr. Schwartz's patient testimonials:
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TRAINING
Dr. Schwartz received both his undergraduate and medical degrees from Harvard University, where he graduated magna cum laude. Following completion of his residency and chief residency at The Neurological Institute of New York at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center, Dr. Schwartz received further training in surgical treatment of brain tumors and epilepsy at Yale-New Haven Medical Center, as well as research training at the Max Planck Institute in Germany. Dr. Schwartz is board-certified in Neurological Surgery.
RESEARCH
Dr. Schwartz’s NIH-funded laboratory has pioneered new techniques in brain mapping using optical recording technology. He is also involved in several clinical trials for treating brain tumors using vaccines, radiolabelled antibodies, and implanted devices for administering chemotherapy.
Dr. Schwartz has received numerous awards for his innovative work from notable institutions such as the NIH, the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, the CURE Foundation, the Wellcome Trust, and the DANA Foundation. He was the recipient of the prestigious Van Wagenen and Von Humboldt Fellowships. He frequently lectures around the world and was an honored guest lecturer at the Society for British Neurosurgery in Scotland, the Mexican Neurosurgery Congress, the First Workshop on Endoscopic Skull Base Surgery in Shanghai, the World Congress for Endoscopic Surgery of the Brain in Vienna, and the Bombay Neurological Society in India. He has been awarded the Synthese skull base award for developing novel minimal-access approaches to skull base and pituitary tumors. He is the co-author of eight books on endoscopic skull base surgery and endoscopic pituitary surgery as well as the 2024 book on transorbital surgery (see news item about the transorbital book).
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