Mitchel Berger

Dr. Mitchel S. Berger, chair of the Department of Neurological Surgery, is a nationally recognized expert in treating brain and spinal cord tumors as well as tumor-related epilepsy in adults and children. He also is a specialist in brain mapping techniques – used to identify and preserve areas of motor, sensory and language function during surgery – and an expert in using the Gamma Knife, a precise, noninvasive tool that applies radiation beams for tumor treatment. He is co-director of the Adult Brain Tumor Surgery Program, director of the Brain Tumor Research Center and director of the Center for Neurological Injury and Repair.

Berger earned his bachelor's degree from Harvard College in 1975 and his medical degree from the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine in 1979. He completed an internship and a residency at UCSF, and was awarded a clinical fellowship in neuro-oncology by the American Cancer Society and a research fellowship by the Brain Tumor Research Center. He completed further fellowship training in neuro-oncology at UCSF and in pediatric neurosurgery at the Hospital for Sick Children, an affiliate of the University of Toronto.

Berger was elected to the American Association of Neurological Surgeons' board of directors and appointed to the American Board of Neurological Surgery.