John Park, MD, PhD

Neurological Surgery

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Personal Statement

I attended New York City public schools, both in Queens near NewYork-Presbyterian Queens and in Manhattan next door to NewYork-Presbyterian Weill Cornell, so taking on the role of Chief of Neurological Surgery at NYP Queens is a return to my roots. My interest in the brain and the nervous system in general was sparked by an introductory neuroscience class I took as a freshman in college and was solidified by taking advanced courses and working in a research laboratory my sophomore through senior years. Before college I had aspired to be a doctor who cared for patients and I integrated all my interests by earning a combined MD/PhD degree. My research career has been extremely gratifying, but taking care of patients has been even more so. On a daily basis I have the opportunity to make a difference in someone’s life by relieving pain and suffering, restoring lost neurologic function, providing reassurance that things will improve, or offering comfort when things may not. It is an honor and a privilege to have patients and their families put their faith and trust in my medical knowledge and surgical skills, and as a result I continuously strive to achieve the best possible outcomes.

Biographical Info

Dr. John Park is the Chief of the Department of Neurological Surgery at NewYork-Presbyterian Queens. A board-certified and award-winning neurosurgeon, Dr. Park has particular expertise in the treatment of brain and spinal tumors and degenerative disorders of the cervical and lumbar spine. While at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, Dr. Park developed a national reputation for the surgical treatment of low-grade gliomas and recurrent malignant gliomas and served as the principal neurosurgeon for patients enrolled in NCI clinical trials for malignant gliomas. Before joining the faculty at Weill Cornell Medicine Department of Neurological Surgery, Dr. Park founded and served as the medical director of the multidisciplinary Brain and Spinal Tumor Program at Cottage Health in Santa Barbara, now the largest such program on the central coast of California. While in Santa Barbara, he also had an active practice providing neurosurgical treatment for patients with neck and low back pain and other disorders of the spine.

Dr. Park received his undergraduate degree, magna cum laude with honors, from Brown University and earned his MD and PhD degrees at Harvard Medical School. He completed his residency training at Harvard at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Children’s Hospital and completed a research fellowship at Dana Farber Cancer Institute. He received advanced spine training at Cleveland Clinic.

Honors and Awards

In recognition of his research, Dr. Park has received awards from the Joint
Section on Pediatric Neurosurgery of the AANS and CNS, the American Brain Tumor
Association, the New England Cancer Society, the Neurosurgery Research and
Education Foundation, the NIH, and the Joint Section on Tumors of the AANS and
CNS.

Board Certifications
American Board of Neurological Surgery
Clinical Expertise
Brain Tumors
Primary Brain Cancer
Metastatic Brain Cancer
Degenerative Spine Disease
Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery
Scoliosis
Herniated Disc
Spinal Fusion
Benign Brain Tumor
Brain Surgery
Brain Tumor Surgery
Gamma Knife Radiosurgery
Education 
  • M.D., Ph.D.
    Harvard Medical School
    1992
  • Sc.B.
    Brown University
    1985
Appointments 
  • Assistant Attending Neurological Surgeon
    NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital
  • Attending Neurological Surgeon
    NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital
  • Professor of Clinical Neurological Surgery
    Weill Cornell Medical College, Cornell University

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Consultant: 
Brain Tumor Foundation