Center of Excellence

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center

State

CA

Specialty

Neurological Surgery

Dr. Keith L. Black serves as Director of Neurosurgery and Director of the Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California. An internationally renowned neurosurgeon and scientist, Dr. Black has a unique ability to combine cutting-edge research and an extremely busy surgical practice. Since 1987, he has performed more than 3,000 operations for resection of brain tumors. Dr. Black has pioneered many research initiatives, including: designing ways to open the blood-brain barrier, enabling chemotherapeutic drugs to be delivered directly into the tumor, developing a vaccine to enhance the body's immune response to brain tumors, use of gene arrays to develop molecular profiles of tumors, use of optical technology for brain mapping and use of focused microwave energy to destroy brain tumors non-invasively. Dr. Black completed an accelerated college program at the University of Michigan and earned both his undergraduate and medical degrees in six years. He completed his internship in general surgery and residency in neurological surgery at the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor. Prior to joining Cedars-Sinai, Dr. Black served on the University of California, Los Angeles faculty for 10 years where he was Professor of Neurosurgery. He is on the National Institutes of Health's Board of Scientific Counselors for neurological disorders and stroke. Dr. Black is also a member of several professional societies including the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, Neurosurgical Society of America, and the Academy of Neurological Surgery. He also is a founding member of the North American Skull Base Society. In 1992 he was awarded the Ruth and Raymond Stotter Chair in the Department of Surgery and was Head of the UCLA Comprehensive Brain Tumor Program. Dr. Black joined Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in July 1997 and was awarded the Ruth and Lawrence Harvey Chair in Neurosciences in November of that year. Through out his career he has received numerous awards, honors and appointments, including being featured on the cover of Time magazine in the fall 1997 special edition "Heroes of Medicine." In 2001, his peers voted Dr. Black one of America's Top Doctors, and he was included in the Center for the Study of Services' "Guide to Top Doctors." In addition to his work at Cedars-Sinai, Dr. Black has published over 150 articles and serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Neuro-Oncology, Neurological Research, Perspectives in Neurological Surgery, Critical Reviews in Neurosurgery and the Journal of Radiosurgery.