NEUROSCIENCE20

Susan C. Pannullo, MD, FAANS, FAAN, FCNS is a double board-certified neurologist and neurosurgeon with subspecialty expertise in neuro-oncology and stereotactic radiosurgery. Her career bridges medicine, neuroscience, and engineering, and she holds academic appointments in Neurosurgery at Columbia University in New York and Biomedical Engineering at Cornell University in Ithaca. As founder and leader of the New York Brain Tumor Project, Dr. Pannullo directed NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medicine’s Neuro-Oncology and Brain and Spine Radiosurgery programs for more than two decades. Her career has encompassed clinical care, translational research, education, clinical trials, biomedical innovation, and academic leadership. She is a recognized advocate for quality and patient safety and was named a 2026 Castle Connolly Top Doctor and Exceptional Woman in Medicine. Dr. Pannullo received her undergraduate degree with honors in Anthropology from Cornell University and her medical degree from Cornell University Medical College. Following an internship at Harvard/Beth Israel Medical Center, she completed residency training in Neurology at New York Hospital/Cornell Medical Center and an American Cancer Society fellowship in Neuro-Oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. She subsequently completed a second residency in Neurological Surgery at New York Hospital/Cornell and Memorial Sloan Kettering, becoming the program’s first female graduate. She is also a graduate of the Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (ELAM) fellowship. Dr. Pannullo’s research and innovation interests include brain tumors, stereotactic radiosurgery, advanced imaging, biomedical engineering, and the development of novel technologies for neurological disease. Her early laboratory research at the National Institutes of Health included work with Nobel Laureate and medical anthropologist Carleton Gajdusek. She later served as a brain tumor clinical trials leader and Chair of a Cancer Institutional Review Board at Weill Cornell Medicine. She is also an inventor on a U.S. patent for mixed-reality systems designed to enhance stereotactic radiosurgery treatment planning. A committed educator and mentor, Dr. Pannullo received Weill Cornell Medicine’s Robert G. Schwager, MD ’67 Education Scholar Award. Her national leadership has included service on the Boards of Directors of the National Brain Tumor Society and the American Association of Neurological Surgeons. She serves as Chair of the Board of Trustees of The Washington Center in Washington, DC. Her South Florida activities include membership in the Miami Biotech Collective and participation in Biotech Miami, reflecting her growing engagement with the region’s neuroscience, biotechnology, and innovation community. Dr. Pannullo was recently elected to the Board of Directors of the Society for Brain Mapping and Therapeutics and serves as Co-Chair of the Local Organizing Committee for Neuroscience20 (N20) in Miami, bringing together her longstanding interests in neuroscience, biotechnology, engineering, education, and multidisciplinary innovation.

Chief of Neurosurgery at the University of Miami Hospital, Professor with Tenure in the Departments of Neurological Surgery and Rehabilitation Medicine, and Spine Neurosurgery Fellowship Director at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Stanford University who earned both his BS and MD there, he completed his neurosurgery residency at USC and LA County General Hospital and a spine fellowship at the University of Miami under Barth Green and Allan Levi. He then served as Spine Program and Fellowship Director at USC before moving to Miami in 2007. A pioneer in minimally invasive spine surgery, he has held leadership roles across the AANS Board of Directors, the North American Spine Society, the Society of University Neurosurgeons, and the International Society for the Advancement of Spine Surgery. He sits on editorial boards including Neurosurgery, World Neurosurgery, and the Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine, and has helped patients ranging from complex multilevel revision cases to a young gunshot victim regain the ability to walk.