Stanford Neurospine Disorders Team
Our Surgeons
Stanford Health Care
Atman Desai, MD
Clinical Professor, Neurosurgery
Director of Neurosurgical Spine Oncology
Practices at: Stanford University Medical Center
Atman Desai, MD, is a Clinical Associate Professor of Neurosurgery and Director of Neurosurgical Spine Oncology at Stanford University Medical Center. Dr. Desai received his medical degree from the University of Cambridge. He completed his residency in Neurological Surgery at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and a fellowship in Spinal Oncology and Complex Spinal Reconstruction at Johns Hopkins Hospital. He focuses on the surgical treatment of spinal tumors and spinal deformity. He performed the first robotic-assisted spine surgery at Stanford, and has particular interest in robotic and minimally invasive surgical treatments. His research focuses on processes that lead to superior outcomes in neurosurgery, understanding disparities in neurosurgical care, and and the use of machine learning to develop predictive models within healthcare.
Michael Jensen, MD, PhD
Clinical Assistant Professor
Director, Endoscopic Spine Surgery
Practices at: Stanford University Medical Center & Sequoia Hospital
Dr. Jensen specializes in endoscopic and minimally invasive spine surgery for degenerative conditions, herniated discs, spinal stenosis, and spine-related pain, with experience in more than 2,000 procedures throughout his career. As Director of Endoscopic Spine Surgery at Stanford, he focuses on motion-preserving techniques that shorten recovery and restore function. He also employs advanced imaging and meticulous surgical planning to make spinal fusion safer and promote lasting healing. Dr. Jensen’s care philosophy emphasizes precision, collaboration, and open communication—ensuring that every patient understands their options and feels confident in their care.
Jon Park, MD, FRCSC
Saunders Family Professor
Neurosurgery Director, Comprehensive Spine Neurosurgery Director, Spine Neurosurgery Fellowship/Spine Research Laboratory
Practices at: Stanford University Medical Center
Dr. Park has extensive clinical practice at Stanford in outpatient minimally invasive spine surgery involving spine disc disease, degenerative spinal disorders and compression fractures. He also has special clinical interest in reconstruction of complex spine traumas and treatment of spinal tumors using Cyberknife Radiosurgery.
Dr. Park's research interest includes non-fusion dynamic spinal stabilization, artificial disc technologies, and regenerative spinal technologies.
Dr. Park completed his neurosurgical residency from the world renowned Montreal Neurological Institute. After completing a spine fellowship at UCLA, he was an Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery at the University of Washington prior to joining Stanford.
John Ratliff, MD, FACS
Professor, Neurosurgery
Co-Director, Division of Spine and Peripheral Nerve Surgery Vice Chair, Operations and Development
Practices at: Stanford University Medical Center
Dr. Ratliff received his medical degree from Tulane University. He is fellowship trained in complex spinal reconstructive surgery and completed a research fellowship in neural regeneration and peripheral nerve repair at the National Institutes of Neurological Disorders and Stroke at the National Institutes of Health.
Dr. Ratliff treats degenerative diseases of the cervical, thoracic and lumbar spine as well as primary and metastatic spinal tumors, spinal infections and chronic pain disorders. He is experienced in minimally invasive spine surgery, revision surgeries and spinal reconstruction, including the use of instrumentation and implants, and artificial disc replacements. Dr. Ratliff is well versed in the evaluation and treatment of nerve compression syndromes and peripheral nerve trauma. His current research focuses on preventing complications in spine surgery, assessing patient outcomes, and developing population-based metrics for assessing surgical outcomes.
Lawrence M. Shuer, MD
Professor, Neurosurgery
Clinic Chief and Vice Chair of Quality, Neurosurgery
Practices at: Stanford University Medical Center
Dr. Shuer received his BA and MD from the University of Michigan. He completed his residency in neurosurgery at Stanford University before joining the faculty.
He is a past president of the California Association of Neurological Surgeons, and the Western Neurosurgical Society. His research interests include treatment of syringomyelia, pediatric disorders, and degenerative spine disease. He also treats congenital malformations of the nervous system as well as spinal cord tumors, both intra and extra medullary. He has interests in treating spinal stenosis without fusion where possible.
Anand Veeravagu, MD
Associate Professor, Neurosurgery
Director, Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery
Practices at: Stanford University Medical Center
Dr. Anand Veeravagu is Associate Professor of Neurosurgery and Associate Professor of Orthopedic Surgery, by courtesy, and Director of Minimally Invasive NeuroSpine Surgery here at Stanford. Dr. Veeravagu is focused on advancing minimally invasive surgical techniques for diseases of the spine and cares for patients with a wide range of spinal disorders including motion preservation (artificial disk replacement), spinal tumor, scoliosis, and robotic spinal surgery.
Dr. Veeravagu’s research efforts are focused on the utilization of large national databases to assess cost, quality, and effectiveness of various treatment algorithms as well as predictive analytics. Dr. Veeravagu is also an author and former Special Assistant to the Secretary of Defense and writes about current events, health policy, and public health-related topics for the San Francisco Chronicle, The Daily Beast, The BBC, and the Huffington Post.
Thomas J. Wilson, MD
Clinical Professor, Neurosurgery
Practices at: Stanford University Medical Center
Dr. Wilson earned his MD from the University of Nebraska College of Medicine, where he was awarded a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Research Training Fellowship. He completed his residency in neurological surgery at the University of Michigan, and a fellowship in peripheral nerve surgery at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. His research interests include peripheral nerve outcomes research, advancing options for patients with peripheral nerve pathologies, and translational research focused on deriving methods for data-driven intraoperative decision making using intraoperative electrophysiology, advanced imaging techniques, and genetic expression information.
Corinna Zygourakis, MD
Associate Professor, Neurosurgery
Practices at: Stanford University Medical Center
Dr. Corinna Zygourakis specializes in comprehensive surgical care of the adult spine, and focuses on the treatment of complex spinal disorders, including spinal deformity, revision surgery, and spinal tumors. She employs the latest minimally invasive, motion-sparing, and robotic surgical techniques to achieve the best outcomes for her patients. Her philosophy is to take care of patients with respect and compassion, as she would want her own family treated.
Dr. Zygourakis trained at the Johns Hopkins Hospital for her combined neurosurgery and orthopedic surgery complex spine fellowship, where she performed the first surgery internationally with the Globus Excelsius spinal robot. She completed her residency at the top-ranked neurosurgical program at the University of California, San Francisco, and obtained her M.D. degree cum laude from Harvard Medical School. Dr. Zygourakis’s research efforts are focused on perfecting paradigms for delivery of high-end technology in spinal care, including robotics and navigation, implementing cost and quality strategies in large healthcare systems, and computational analysis of big-data to effect real-time risk stratification and decision making in spine surgery.
ADDITIONAL TEAM MEMBERS
Anuj Aggarwal, MD
Clinical Assistant Professor, Anesthesiology, Preoperative and Pain Medicine
Anuj Aggarwal, M.D., is both a practicing anesthesiologist and interventional pain specialist. Originally from Southern California, Dr. Aggarwal completed his undergraduate studies in biology with honors at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA. He earned his medical degree from University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine with distinction, completing the Health Professions Education (HPE) Pathway advanced program. He completed his internship at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara, CA. He then completed his Anesthesiology residency and Pain Medicine fellowship at Stanford Hospital, joining the faculty at Stanford in 2018.
Michael Leong, MD
Clinical Professor, Anesthesiology, Preoperative and Pain Medicine
Michael S. Leong, MD, is a specialist in pain medicine with clinical foci in radiculopathy; spinal, abdominal, and cancer pain; postherpetic neuralgia; and workers compensation cases. He received his medical degree from Georgetown University in Washington, DC, and completed his residency in anesthesiology at University of California, Davis and at Stanford University, where he also completed his fellowship in pain medicine. He is board certified by the American Board of Anesthesiology.
Josh Levin, MD
Clinical Professor, Neurosurgery and Orthopedic Surgery
Director, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Interventional Spine Fellowship
Practices at: Stanford University Medical Center
Dr. Josh Levin completed a residency in physical medicine and rehabilitation at the University of Michigan and a pain medicine fellowship at the Virginia Commonwealth University. Dr. Levin specializes in the non-surgical management of a wide range of spinal disorders He performs spinal injections and nerve tests (EMG’s.)
Xiang Qian, MD
Stanford Medicine Endowed Director
Clinical Professor, Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine Clinical Professor (By courtesy), Neurosurgery
Practices at: Stanford University Medical Center
Palo Alto VA Medical Center
Stephen Skirboll, MD
Associate Professor of Neurosurgery at the Stanford University Medical Center
Practices at: Veteran’s Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System and Stanford University Medical Center
Dr. Skirboll's research focuses on screening strategies to identify and characterize cancer stem cells (CSCs) in human gliomas. His lab is pursuing this in several ways: 1) a novel colony-forming antibody live cell array to identify distinct CSC surface phenotypes, 2) RNAi screens to identify kinases critical for CSC tumorigenicity, 3) high throughput small molecule and chemical screens to identify compounds that selectively kill or target CSCs, and 4) identifying CSCs using the tumor specific EGFRvIII
Santa Clara Valley Medical Center
Tene Aneka Cage, MD
Clinical Associate Professor, Neurosurgery
Practices at: Santa Clara Valley Medical Center
Dr. Tene Cage is a Clinical Associate Professor of Neurological Surgery at Stanford University. Dr. Cage is Board Certified by the American Board of Neurological Surgery (ABNS). She received a B.A. degree from Harvard University and graduated with cum laude honors. She then went on to complete her medical school education and Neurological Surgery residency training at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) School of Medicine. She also has completed a Neurotrauma fellowship at UCSF and San Francisco General Hospital with Geoff Manley, MD, PhD where she received specialized training in caring for patients after traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries.
Marco Lee, MD, PhD, FRCS
Clinical Professor, Neurosurgery
Practices at: Santa Clara Valley Medical Center
Dr Lee completed his neurosurgery residency in Oxford and Edinburgh. He underwent subspecialty fellowship training in skull base/cerebrovascular surgery and also radiosurgery at Stanford.
Dr Lee’s spine practice encompasses the surgical treatment of degenerative, traumatic, oncological and vascular conditions of the spine. He has research interest in stem cell treatment of spinal cord injury and participated in the first human stem cell trial in acute spinal cord injury. His other clinical focus includes spine navigation, minimally invasive surgery and radiosurgery of the spine.
Harman Singh, MD, MBA
Clinical Professor, Neurosurgery
Chief of Neurosurgery, Santa Clara Valley Medical Center
Practices at: Santa Clara Valley Medical Center
After graduating Summa Cum Laude with Honors from the University of Arizona, Dr. Singh went on to finish his medical schooling at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston, Massachusetts. This was followed by a General Surgery Internship and Neurosurgical Residency at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia. During residency, Dr. Singh received extensive training in all aspects of spinal surgery: traumatic, degenerative and oncologic. He trained with international experts on spinal surgery, including Dr. Alex Vaccaro, James Harrop, Todd Albert, Alan Hillenbrand, among others.
Dr. Singh is passionate about resident education, having organized numerous cadaveric workshops and symposiums for residents over the last several years. His clinical and research interests include minimally invasive spinal surgery, spinal oncology and spinal cord injury.