I am originally from New York, just north of Manhattan, but lived many places around the country while growing up. I attended Columbia University for undergraduate studies. I then made my way to Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans, where I obtained my medical degree. After graduating medical school, I completed residency training at the University of Maryland in Baltimore.

I obtained additional fellowship training during a fellowship at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), where we examined the origins of cancer cells and effective drug delivery to treat cancer, followed by a fellowship in neurosurgical oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York.

The direction of my neurosurgical career has largely been shaped by the loss of his mother to metastatic cancer in the early part of my neurosurgery residency. Her legacy drives me to be a better physician, to search for a solution to spine cancer, and to train future neurosurgeons to approach their patients with the skill, compassion, and respect they deserve during a very difficult time.

Clinically, I run the spine oncology program and specialize in surgical and radiation treatment of spine tumors. My goal at the University of Michigan is to continue to build a clinical and translational spine oncology program that will enable the clinic and the laboratory to work together as partners to rapidly advance care for spine cancer. This model will foster synergy among physicians and researchers, affording our patients access to the latest clinical trials and outstanding, compassionate care; it will also accelerate new therapies for future patients. This cannot be done alone and we are always looking for partners.

My research focuses on patients with metastatic (cancer that comes from one place and goes to another) cancer of the spine. The spine oncology group is focused on finding ways to make our patients lives better by examining current practices and constantly improving them. We are examining ways of determining disease progression, different methods of treating disease and looking to make treatment more tolerable for patients. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions about research want to collaborate with us or help contribute to our research in any way.