History of the Weill Cornell Neurosurgical Innovations and Training Center for Skull Base Neurosurgery

New York Hospital was founded in 1771 and has a rich neurosurgical history that began with the establishment of its neurosurgery service in 1932 by George J. Heuer and continued under the appointment of its first director, Bronson H. Ray, in 1936—both of whom trained under Harvey Cushing, the father of modern neurosurgery. In 2000, Dr. Philip E. Stieg became the first Chairman and Neurosurgeon-in-Chief of the newly formed Department of Neurological Surgery at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. In 2004, with the aim of creating a comprehensive skull base surgery program, Stieg recruited Dr. Antonio Bernardo from the Barrow Neurological Institute, where Bernardo trained under Dr. Robert F. Spetzler, to develop and lead a fellowship training program in skull base and microneurosurgery. Dr. Alexander I. Evins, who trained under Dr.'s Stieg and Bernardo, was later recruited by them and joined the faculty, further expanding Weill Cornell's skull base clinical, research, and fellowship training programs.

Dr. Bernardo, who had previously worked as a member of the Foundation for International Education in Neurological Surgery establishing skull base surgery programs in hospitals throughout Peru, garnered requests from countries throughout the world for his expertise in skull base surgery. Dr. Bernardo went on to operate and teach in over 30 countries, and from these experiences, identified a deep need for specialized surgical training in skull base neurosurgery. This need led him to conceptualize, design, and develop a centralized training facility that could serve as a global hub for highly focused and effective neurosurgical training.

The Weill Cornell Neurosurgical Innovations and Training Center, a unique custom-designed, fully-equipped, and state-of-the-art facility, became the realization of that vision and officially opened in 2010 as the new dedicated home for the fellowship program, providing lab-based surgical skills training for residents, fellows, and attending surgeons. Between 2004 and 2010, during the design and construction of the new facility, the fellowship program operated out of a temporary space within the nearby New York Blood Center. Since 2010, Dr.'s Bernardo and Evins have continually upgraded the facility to keep pace with technological developments in the operating room, while considerably expanding the program, its scope, and its reach—training countless residents and medical students, in addition to the 200 fellows, as well as trained surgeons from around the United States and the world through regular courses and other educational offerings.

Currently, Dr.'s Bernardo and Evins, along with the fellows, present four 3- to 6-day dissection-based continuing surgical education courses per year, spanning from basic, to complex, to the most advanced skull base techniques. Instead of invited faculty, experienced and former fellows assist with over-the-shoulder instructional support for these courses, reinforcing and deepening their understanding and mastery of the techniques covered. Additionally, the facility houses 4- and 6-week surgical neuroanatomy electives for medical students, who work alongside the fellows.

The Weill Cornell Fellowship in Skull Base and Microneurosurgery has become one of the most sought-after neurosurgery training programs in the world. As of 2025, the fellowship program has trained over 200 neurosurgeon fellows from 57 countries and over 220 medical students. Through this fellowship and our ongoing courses, Dr.'s Bernardo and Evins have trained approximately 8% of the world's neurosurgeons in advanced skull base techniques, rendering the fellowship program alone the largest neurosurgical training program in the world by both volume and geographic reach.

The above is adapted from Bernardo A, Evins AI. The Weill Cornell Skull Base and Microneurosurgery Skills-Based Neurosurgery Fellowship: A 20-Year, 200-Fellow Retrospective. World Neurosurgery. 2025;197:123948.