Dr. Keith L. BlackProfessor and Chairman, Dept. of Neurosurgery, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center USA

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Dr. Keith L. Black serves as the professor and chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery; the Director of Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute and Director of the Johnnie L. Cochran, Jr. Brain Tumor Center at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. An internationally renowned neurosurgeon and scientist, 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.

Dr. Black completed an accelerated college program at the University of Michigan and earned both his undergraduate and medical degrees in six years. At age 17, he published his first scientific paper, which earned the Westinghouse Science Award. Dr. Black pioneered research on designing ways to open the blood-brain barrier, enabling chemotherapeutic drugs to be delivered directly into the tumor. His work in this field received the Jacob Javits award from the National Advisory Neurological Disorders and Stroke Council of the National Institutes of Health in 2000. Since 1987, he has performed more than 5,000 operations for resection of brain tumors.

Dr. Black’s other groundbreaking research has focused on developing a vaccine to enhance the body’s immune response to brain tumors, use of gene arrays to develop molecular profiles of tumors, the use of optical technology for brain mapping, and the use of focused microwave energy to non-invasively destroy brain tumors. In 1997 Time magazine featured him in a special edition entitled “Heroes in Medicine.”