Dr. Mark M. Souweidane, co-director of the Weill Cornell Medicine Children’s Brain Tumor Project, is internationally recognized as a leader in pediatric neurosurgery, with a career focus on CNS tumors of childhood. He is the Vice Chairman of the Department of Neurological Surgery at the Weill Cornell Medical College and director of pediatric neurosurgery at the New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Medical Center, Columbia University Medical Center, and Memorial-Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
Dr. Souweidane’s clinical and scholarly contributions have helped define the contemporary fields of minimally invasive endoscopic surgery and direct drug delivery for brain tumors. He directs a translational laboratory focusing on novel drug delivery techniques for childhood brain tumors. He is the principal investigator (PI) for a clinical trial using convection-enhanced delivery (CED) and immuno-radiotherapy as a novel therapeutic approach for children with DIPG (NCT01502917). In 2017 Dr. Souweidane was selected by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to serve as the Neurological Surgery Special Expert on its Brain Malignancies Steering Committee (BMSC) and was appointed to the Children’s Oncology Group (COG) CNS Steering Committee. He is the past chair of the editorial board for Journal of Neurosurgery Pediatrics.
Dr. Souweidane received his bachelors of Science degree from the University of Michigan and his medical doctorate degree from Wayne State University. He completed his neurosurgery training at NYU Medical Center under the mentorship of Dr. Fred Epstein and completed his fellowship in pediatrics at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada. Dr. Souweidane is board-certified by the American Board of Neurological Surgery and the American Board of Pediatric Neurological Surgery. He is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons and the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Awards and Recognitions
| 2016 | New York Magazine’s Best Doctors |
| 2016 | Breakthrough Spirit Award, Children’s Cancer & Blood Foundation |
| 2016 | Cristian Rivera Foundation Vison of Hope Award |
| 2016 | Brain Tumor Foundation Award |
| 2004-2019 | Castle Connolly Top Doctors (New York Metro Area) |
| 2008, 2009, 2012-2019 | New York SuperDoctors |
Recent and Notable Publications
Laser interstitial thermal therapy as a radiation-sparing approach for central nervous system tumors in children with cancer predisposition syndromes: report of a child with Li-Fraumeni syndrome. Illustrative case. Journal of neurosurgery. Case lessons. 2024 Academic Article
The Role of Virtual Surgical Planning in Surgery for Complex Craniosynostosis. Plastic and reconstructive surgery. Global open. 2024 Academic Article
Diffuse Midline Gliomas: Challenges and New Strategies in a Changing Clinical Landscape. Cancers. 2024 Review
A road map for the treatment of pediatric diffuse midline glioma. Cancer cell. 2023 Academic Article
Letter: Endoscopic Transseptal Approach for Removal of Colloid Cysts: 2-Dimensional Operative Video. Operative neurosurgery (Hagerstown, Md.). 2023 Academic Article