L. Dade Lunsford, MD

L. Dade Lunsford, MD, is the Lars Leksell Professor and Distinguished Professor at the Department of Neurological Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh. He is also director emeritus of the Center for Image-Guided Neurosurgery at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and an internationally recognized authority on stereotactic surgery, radiosurgery, and minimally invasive surgery.

In 1981 Dr. Lunsford arranged installation a dedicated CT scanner in a new state of the art stereotactic operating room, merging surgery with imaging for the first time. More than 10,000 patients have undergone various image-guided surgical procedures since that time.

In 1987, Dr. Lunsford was responsible for installing the Gamma Knife to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, the fifth unit ever built. This medical center was the first in the United States to offer this state-of-the-art, minimally invasive form of brain surgery. Since that time, more than 18,800 patients have undergone brain stereotactic radiosurgery using one of the continuously updated versions of the Gamma Knife. He and his team have trained more than 2,800 surgeons, oncologists, and physicists in the field of radiosurgery via training courses conducted six times per year.

Dr. Lunsford graduated from the University of Virginia in 1970 and then received his medical degree in 1974 from the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. He completed his internship in surgery at the University of Virginia Hospital and his residency in neurological surgery at the University of Pittsburgh training under Peter Jannetta, MD. Following a one-year fellowship in stereotactic and functional neurosurgery at the Karolinska institute in Stockholm, Sweden—where he studied with Professors Lars Leksell and Erik-Olof Backlund—he joined the Department of Neurological Surgery faculty in 1981.

[Read also Lunsford Named Recipient of Patient Award.]

He is an active staff member of several UPMC hospitals and was president of the medical staff at UPMC Presbyterian from 1999-2001 and past president of the Council of Clinical Chairs for the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in 2001-2003. For 16 years Dr. Lunsford chaired the UPMC Health System Technology and Innovative Practice (TIPAC) committee. He arranged for installation of the UPMC Magnetoencephalography device and co-chairs the UPMC Brain Mapping (MEG) Center.

Dr. Lunsford has been board-certified by the American Board of Neurological Surgery since 1983. He is the author of more than 1,400 published articles, abstracts, and book chapters and has served as the editor or co-editor of 17 books.

Dr. Lunsford served as department chairman of the University of Pittsburgh Department of Neurological Surgery for ten years, before stepping down in July of 2006 to devote more time to his clinical work, clinical investigation, and resident and fellow training. He also served as the department residency program director from 1987 until 2020.

Since 2012, he has served as a team physician (neurosurgeon) for the National Hockey League’s Pittsburgh Penguins. Prior to that he served as the Neurosurgical Team Physician for Pitt football. 

In 2016, Dr. Lunsford received the Cushing Award for Technical Excellence and Innovation in Neurosurgery from the American Association of Neurological Surgery. In December of 2017, he received the prestigious Herbert Olivecrona Award—considered by some as the “Nobel Prize of Neurosurgery”—from the Karolinska Institute & Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm, Sweden. In April of 2018, he was honored to present the 2018 Van Wagenen Lecture during the American Association of Neurological Surgeons Annual Meeting in New Orleans. On June 19, 2020, he delivered the inaugural Dan Leksell Lecture at the fourth meeting of the International Radiosurgery Research Foundation. In 2021, Dr. Lunsford received the Andrew Parsa award for mentorship from the AANS-CNS Section on Tumors and delivered the annual Ronald Bittner Lecture. In May 2022 he delivered the inaugural Lunsford Radiosurgery Lecture at the Miami Baptist Cancer Institute. In 2024, Dr. Lunsford received the Congress of Neurological Surgery Founders Award.

Since 2002, Dr. Lunsford has been a Castle Connolly Top Doctor and currently serves on their Board of Medical Advisors.

Dr. Lunsford's publications can be reviewed through the National Library of Medicine's publication database.