Meet Dr. Nitin Agarwal
Nitin Agarwal, MD, joined the University of Pittsburgh Department of Neurological Surgery as an associate professor on February 1, 2023. As part of his educational mission, he serves as the associate program director of the UPMC/University of Pittsburgh neurological surgery residency program and co-director of the department’s Complex and Minimally Invasive Spine Deformity Fellowship. On the clinical front, he is director of the department’s Minimally Invasive Spine and Robotics Surgery program.
Dr. Agarwal received his medical degree from Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. Afterwards, he completed his neurological surgery residency at the University of Pittsburgh. During this time, he also completed an enfolded fellowship in sports medicine as well as in minimally invasive and complex spine surgery. He then completed an AO Spine and Committee on Advanced Subspecialty Training (CAST) approved minimally invasive and complex spine surgery fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco with dual training from orthopedic and neurosurgical mentors. Prior to joining the University of Pittsburgh, Dr. Agarwal served as the director of neurotrauma at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis with a clinical focus in spinal deformity surgery.
Dr. Agarwal has funded investigations in four concentrations: neurotrauma outcomes after severe traumatic brain injury and acute spinal cord injury, spine outcomes, socioeconomic research, and patient education. To date, he has published over 360 peer-reviewed articles and has spoken at several regional and national conferences with over 300 oral and poster presentations. His health literacy research has been published in several high impact factor journals including JAMA Internal Medicine and he has also been featured by prominent healthcare-oriented news outlets such as Reuters Health. In addition, he is an editor for the following books…
Surviving Neurosurgery: Vignettes of Resilience
The Evolution of Health Literacy: Empowering Patients through Improved Education __ and __
Pre-Medicine: The Complete Guide for Aspiring Doctors.
Dr. Agarwal also maintains an active role in organized neurosurgery advocating for medical student and patient education.
Moreover, he has pledged his commitment to advancing neurosurgery as a member of the Neurosurgery Research and Education Foundation Cushing Circle of Giving.
Outside of neurological surgery, Dr. Agarwal has been deeply dedicated to martial arts, specifically the disciplines of Taekwondo, Krav Maga and Jiu-Jitsu. For over a decade, he served as a certified instructor, national judge and school owner. Dr. Agarwal credits martial arts with providing mental and physical discipline as well as adherence to a strict honor code.
Neurosurgery
Neurosurgery is the field of medicine pertaining to diagnosis treatment of conditions in the brain, spinal column, and peripheral nerves in pediatric and adult population. Neurosurgeons often specialize in a variety of different sub-specialties, such as pediatric, cerebrovascular, endovascular, peripheral nerve, spine, and pediatric neurosurgery.
Despite most people thinking neurosurgeons operate on the brain, more than 70% of neurosurgeons cases are for treatment of spinal conditions. With the exception for a small fraction of cases, neurosurgeons are trained to handle a broad variety of conditions ranging from brain tumors to aneurysm to strokes to Parkinson’s disease.
Dr. Agarwal’s areas of interest include spine outcomes, neurotrauma outcomes, socioeconomic research, and patient education.