For over a century, the University of Pennsylvania has been one of the nation’s leading centers for neurosurgery. Penn was a birthplace for the field under the leadership of Dr. Charles Harrison Frazier (1870-1936), one of neurosurgery’s founding fathers. While we embrace our illustrious past, Penn Neurosurgery is squarely focused on the future, embracing sub-specialization, technical surgical excellence, innovation, and technology, with an overriding focus on providing patients with the best and most compassionate care.
Our guiding principle is the cultivation of focused expertise. We function as a team of clinicians and researchers who specialize in specific areas within neurosurgery, organized into five subspecialty divisions. Each division is composed of clinical faculty who are experts in their subspecialty, led by a Division Head who is a renowned expert and national leader in the field.
Our faculty neurosurgeons practice at Penn Medicine’s three academic medical centers in the heart of Philadelphia: the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP), Pennsylvania Hospital, and Penn Presbyterian Medical Center. Integrated across these sites, the Department has one of the busiest neurosurgical practices in the nation, performing over 8000 adult neurosurgery cases annually in the Philadelphia-area, as well as an additional 1500 pediatric neurosurgery cases at the Penn Medicine affiliated Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. And our impact extends to Penn Medicine clinical sites beyond Philadelphia, including four regional medical centers serving communities in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, as well as numerous clinics, outpatient centers, and affiliated hospitals.
The Department’s outstanding and rapidly growing research program is central to our overall mission. Research fuels innovation and excellence in clinical care and enables our patients to access cutting-edge neurosurgical care, including numerous clinical trials. In 2024, the Department ranked 3rd in the nation in NIH funding research among departments of neurosurgery. Our faculty regularly publish their research finding in leading neurosurgical journals as well as in high-impact scientific journals such as Nature and Science. NIH funding has more than tripled over the past five years, and the research program is on a clear trajectory for further growth.
Penn Neurosurgery’s residency program and fellowship training programs are among the best in the world and are getting even better. Our educational leaders care deeply about our trainees and are dedicated to providing them with the best possible learning experience. In 2025-26, we will implement a major reorganization of the neurosurgery residency program that was developed in close collaboration with the residents themselves and promises to further enhance the resident experience.
Finally, and most importantly, our department is imbued with the wonderful Penn culture of collaboration, tolerance, and respect for others, a culture that can traced back to founder of the University of Pennsylvania, Benjamin Franklin. It is a tremendous privilege for us to work together and learn together, to study the complexities of the brain or spine, and to have patients place their trust in our hands.
Daniel Yoshor, MD
Chair, Department of Neurosurgery
Vice President, Clinical Integration and Innovation