Theodore Schwartz, MD

Theodore H. Schwartz, MD, graduated Magna Cum Laude in Philosophy and English from Harvard University and Magna Cum Laude in Neuroscience from Harvard Medical School. After completing his residency and chief residency in Neurosurgery at The Neurological Institute of New York at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center, Dr. Schwartz spent a year at Yale-New Haven Medical Center where he received advanced fellowship training in epilepsy and brain tumor surgery. He completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the Max Planck Institute in Munich, Germany funded by the Van Wagenen Fellowship and the Von Humboldt Society. Dr. Schwartz spent 25 years as a Professor of Neurosurgery, Otolaryngology, and Neuroscience at Weill Cornell Medical College, New York Presbyterian Hospital. He was named David and Ursel Barnes Professor in Minimally Invasive Surgery, the first endowed professorship in the department, Vice-Chairman of Clinical Research, the Director of Anterior Skull Base and Pituitary Surgery, Co-Director of Surgical Neuro-Oncology, the Director of Epilepsy Surgery, and ran a basic science laboratory investigating the causes and treatment for epilepsy. He has received K08, R01 and R21 funding from the NINDS for his research and has served on several NIH review committees.

Dr. Schwartz has provided commentary for numerous television shows including  ABC, NBC, CBS, and Larry King. His expertise has been sought through interviews, quoted and published, in the Wall Street Journal, The New York Post, The New York Daily News, and Crain's New York Business and has appeared on numerous podcasts, including Fresh Air with Terry Gross, Chasing Life with Dr. Sanjay Gupta, The Michael Shermer Show, Conversations with Tyler, and All of It with Allision Stewart, and at the Sun Valley Writer's Conference in 2025.  Dr. Schwartz has been named one of New York's Super Doctors, Best Doctors in New York Magazine, America's Top Surgeons, America's Best Doctors, and America's Best Doctors for Cancer. He is the co-author of eight books on minimally invasive brain and pituitary surgery as well as two textbooks on imaging techniques for the central nervous system.

Dr. Schwartz’s book Gray Matters: A Biography of Brain Surgery, published by Dutton/Penguin-Random House, was selected by The Economist as one of the best books of 2024. His nonfiction writing has been featured in the Wall Steet Journal, The Boston Globe, Psyche Magazine, and The Psychologist. Dr. Schwartz is currently the Founder and CEO of Illumination Diagnostics, a med tech device company.