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IGOR FINEMAN, M.D.

Igor Fineman, M.D. is a board-certified neurosurgeon.

Dr. Fineman’s clinical practice encompasses a variety of disorders of the brain and spine. His areas of focus and expertise are in functional and stereotactic surgery for movement disorders, such as Parkinson’s Disease and essential tremor; treatment of benign and malignant tumors of the brain and spine, including minimally-invasive stereotactic radiosurgery and trans-nasal approaches for pituitary-region tumors; and treatment of degenerative conditions of the spine, including minimally-invasive microscopic approaches and spinal instrumentation.Dr. Fineman’s research interests have been focused on traumatic brain injury and plasticity following injury as well as the development of a cortical neural prosthesis to bypass the injured central nervous system and allow paralyzed patients to communicate with their environment. Development of a neural prosthesis is currently under way in collaboration with Dr. Fineman’s colleagues at Caltech.

 Professional Experience

Huntington Memorial Hospital, Pasadena, CA
Director, Functional and Stereotactic Neurosurgery 1/02-Present

Glendale Adventist Medical Center, Glendale, CA
Director, Stereotactic Radiosurgery 1/02-Present
Director, Section of Neurosurgery 1/01-1/06

City of Hope National Medical Center, Duarte, CA
Faculty Neurosurgeon—6/07-Present
Director-Stereotactic Radiosurgery 2/02- 6/07

California Institute of Technology, Division of Biology, Pasadena, CA
Visiting Associate 7/00-Present


 Education

UCLA Medical Center, Division of Neurosurgery
Clinical Instructor,
Functional and Stereotactic Neurosurgery, Radiosurgery  7/00-12/00

UCLA Medical Center, Division of Neurosurgery
Chief Resident 07/99-06/00

UCLA Medical Center, Division of Neurosurgery
Resident 07/95-06/99

UCLA Medical Center
, Department of Surgery
Surgical Intern 06/94-06/95

UCLA School of Medicine

M.D. with Thesis 06/94

UCLA School of Engineering and Applied Science

B.S. Engineering (Bioengineering) 06/90


 Board Certification

National Board of Medical Examiners Steps 1,2,3 (1992, 1994, 1995)
Diplomate, American Board of Neurological Surgery (2004)

Honors/Awards

  • UCLA Brain Injury Research Program Young Investigator Award  2000
  • Western Student Medical Research Forum Presentation Award 1992
  • Tau Beta Pi National Engineering Honor Society 1990
  • UCLA Alumni Scholar Achievement Award (4 times) 1985-1989
  • American Heart Association Student Research Award 1988
  • UCLA Medical Center Student Volunteer Scholarship Award 1988
 SELECTED Publications

Rizutto, D.S., Mamelak, A.N., Sutherling, W.W., Fineman, I. and Andersen, R.A. Spatial selectivity in human ventrolateral prefrontal cortex. Nature Neuroscience, 2005, 8: 415-417

Scherberger H, Fineman, I., Musallam, S., Dubowitz, D.J., Bernheim, K.A., Pesaran, D., Corneil, B.D., Gilliken, B., and Andersen, R.A. Magnetic resonance image-guided implantation of chronic recording electrodes in the macaque intraparietal sulcus. Jounal of Neuroscience Methods, 2003, 130(1): 1-8

Andersen, R.A., Burdic, J., Musallam, S, Scherberger, H., Pesaran, B., Meeker, D., Corneil, B., Fineman, I., Nenedic, Z., Cham, J., Greger, B., Tai, Y., and Mojarradi, M. Recording advances for nural prosthetics. Conf  Proc IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc. 204; 7: 5352-5355
Kelly, D.F., Oskouian, R.J. and Fineman, I. Collagen sponge repair of small cerebrospinal fluid leaks obviates tissue grafts and cerebrospinal fluid diversion after pituitary surgery. Neurosurgery, 2001, 49:885-890

Fineman, I., Giza, C.C., Nahed, B.V., Lee, S.M., and Hovda, D.A. Inhibition of neocortical plasticity during development by a moderate concussive brain injury. Journal of Neurotrauma, 2000, 17:739-749

Fineman, I., Johnson, J.P., Di-Patre, P., and Sandhu, H. Chronic renal failure causing brown tumors and myelopathy: case report and review of pathophysiology and treatment. Journal of Neurosurgery (Spine 2), 1999, 90:242-246

Doberstein, C., Fineman, I., Hovda, D.A., Martin, N.A., Keenly, L. and Becker, D.P. Metabolic alterations accompany ionic disturbances and cellular swelling during a hypoxic insult to the retina: an in vitro study. Acta Neurochirurgica, 1994, Sup. 60:41-44

Fineman, I., Hovda, D.A., Smith, M. and Becker, D.P. Concussive brain injury is associated with a prolonged accumulation of calcium: a 45-Ca++ autoradigraphic study. Brain Research, 1993, 624:94-102

Hovda, D.A., Yoshino, A., Kawamata, T., Katayama, Y., Fineman, I., and Becker, D.P. The increase in local cerebral glucose utilization folowwing fluid percussion brain injury is prevented with kynurenic acid and is associated with an increase in calcium. Acta neurochirugica, 1990, Sup. 51:331-333

Fineman, I., Hart, D., and Nord, E.P. Intracellular pH regulates Na+ -independent C1- base exchange in JTC-12 (proximal tubule) cells. American Journal of Physiology, 1990, 258:F883-92

 Research Support

A Human Cortical Prosthetic to assist severly paralyzed patients
Funding source- The McKnight Endowment for Neuroscience (co-PI)
Funding period: 2/05-2/08

Smart MEMS Recording Systems for Visual Cortical Studies.
Funding source- National Institutes of Health- 1 R01 EY015545 (Co-PI)
Funding period: 11/04-11/09

  Professional Organizations

American Society for Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery
American Association of Neurological Surgeons
Congress of Neurological Surgeons
North American Spine Society
Society for Neuroscience


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