Daniel Yoshor named Neurosurgery Department Chair at Perelman School of Medicine

On Monday, the Perelman School of Medicine announced Daniel Yoshor will serve as the new chair of the Department of Neurosurgery in the Perelman School of Medicine.

Yoshor will also serve as the vice president of Clinical Integration and Innovation for the University of Pennsylvania Health System, Penn Medicine News reported. Yoshor is currently the Chair of Neurosurgery at Baylor College of Medicine, and will begin at Penn Medicine on July 1, 2020, Penn Medicine News reported.

The current chair of the Department of Neurosurgery, M. Sean Grady has held the position since March 1999. Grady exceeded national goals for increasing the number of women in the neurosurgery department’s residency program, Penn Medicine News reported. 

During Grady's time as chair, Penn's Neurology VR Laboratory developed experiments including virtual reality therapy for patients with phantom limb pain. Grady will continue to be the physician director of the Neurosciences Service Line, Penn Medicine News reported. 

Yoshor graduated from Yeshiva University in 1989 with a B.A. in philosophy and from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine in 1993, Penn Medicine News reported. He completed neurosurgical residency at Baylor College of Medicine and a clinical fellowship in brain tumor and epilepsy surgery and brain mapping at the University of California San Francisco.

Yoshor joined Baylor’s faculty in 2000, and has since served as a professor in the departments of Neurosurgery, Neurology, and Neuroscience, Penn Medicine News reported. From 2008-2016, Yoshor was the program director for the Baylor neurosurgery residency program, one of the nation’s largest neurosurgery residency programs, Penn Medicine News reported. He became the chair of the department of Neurosurgery in 2015, and under his leadership, the department rose to No. 3 in the United States in National Institutes of Health funding, Penn Medicine News reported.

Yoshor’s clinical work focuses on endoscopic pituitary and skull base surgery and brain tumor and epilepsy surgery, Penn Medicine News reported. He is currently working with a large team of scientists, engineers, and clinicians to create a visual prosthetic to restore vision for the blind, Penn Medicine News reported. 

“A dynamic leader and accomplished administrator, Dr. Yoshor impressively advanced Baylor Neurosurgery over the past five years in all of its missions,” Dean of the Perelman School of Medicine and Executive Vice President of the University of Pennsylvania Health System J. Larry Jameson told Penn Medicine News. “We are grateful for Dr. Sean Grady’s vision and energetic leadership of the Neurosurgery department over the past two decades, and we look forward to the growth of this impactful department in this next phase of leadership.”