Peter M. Black, MD, PhD, FACS

Peter Black, MD, PhD

Medical Education:

• McGill University, Montreal, 1970

Internship/Residency:

• Surgery and Neurosurgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, 1970-1980

Fellowships:

• Tumors, Massachusetts General Hospital, 1976; Hydrocephalus, Children’s Hospital Boston, 1981

Clinical Interests:

Brain tumors, radiosurgery, image-guided minimally invasive surgery, pituitary tumors, skull base tumors, epilepsy, hydrocephalus.

He is consistently listed in Best Doctors in America and Top Doctors with special interest in surgery for meningiomas, pituitary adenomas, and low-grade gliomas; image-guided minimally invasive neurosurgery; skull base surgery; and brain mapping. He helped to develop the first intraoperative MRI and has used this device extensively to improve brain tumor treatment. He also has extensive experience in epilepsy surgery in children and hydrocephalus in adults.

Dr. Black sits on many review boards and is chairman of the Editorial Board of Neurosurgery and the senior representative of the CNS to the World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies. His laboratory has had ongoing funding since 1980, including present RO1 funding. It investigates growth and invasion in brain tumors, especially meningiomas. Collaborations with laboratories in France and Israel have led to new models of meningiomas, new therapeutic approaches, and improved surgical planning. His bibliography includes 10 books and 500 papers, most involving brain tumor management, brain imaging and image-guided surgery, medical ethics, and molecular neurosurgery.

Dr. Black was born in Canada and while in high school, became an Associate of the Royal Conservatory of Toronto as a solo performer in piano. He attended Harvard College, graduating with honors. He returned to Canada for medical school at McGill University. He entered surgical and then neurosurgical residency at the Massachusetts General Hospital. During this period, he served two years in the United States Navy, mostly at the U.S. Capitol as a physician to Congress and the Supreme Court. He earned a Ph.D. in philosophy from Georgetown University. In 1980 he joined the staff at the MGH. In 1987 he became a Professor and Chief of Neurosurgery at the Brigham and Women’s and Children’s Hospitals.

Dr. Black is deeply committed to neurosurgical research, clinical practice, and education. He has a great interest in the work of the World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies and chairs its Bylaws Committee, also sitting on the Education and Ethics committees. He has mentored students, residents, young faculty, and graduate neurosurgeons from more than 30 countries and has given invited lectures in 40. He is very proud of the productivity of his former trainees, many holding prominent academic positions.