Roger Härtl, MD
Weill Cornell Medical Center (New York, NY)
Roger Härtl, MD, is the Hansen-MacDonald Professor of Neurological Surgery as well as Neurosurgical Director at Och Spine at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center.
Dr. Härtl’s clinical interest focuses on simple and complex spine surgery for degenerative conditions, tumors, and sports injuries as well as biological approaches for disc repair and regeneration. He is a pioneer and leader in minimally invasive spinal surgery and computer-assisted spinal navigation surgery and augmented reality. Dr. Härtl’s practice emphasizes an interdisciplinary approach to spinal disease. He collaborates closely with other specialists such as neurologists, pain specialists, sports medicine doctors and physical therapists at New York Presbyterian Hospital / The Spiral.
He serves as the official neurosurgeon for the New York Giants Football Team. He is the 2022 recipient of the AANS Humanitarian Award, one of the highest honors bestowed by the American Association of Neurological Surgeons. In addition, he has been selected to lists of Castle Connolly: America’s Top Doctors (2008-2024), New York Super Doctors (2012-2024), and Newsweek: Top Spine Surgeons (2024). He is the founder and leader of Weill Cornell’s Global Neurosurgery Initiative in Tanzania where he trains the future generation of neurosurgeons in East Africa.
Dr. Härtl’s scientific interest focuses on clinical and basic science research surrounding innovative and less invasive surgical and biological treatment strategies for degenerative diseases of the spine. Together with the Biomedical Engineering Department at Cornell he is working on tissue-engineering techniques for the repair and regeneration of degenerated spinal discs, the most common cause of back and neck pain. Dr. Härtl has lectured and published extensively on the surgical treatment of spinal disorders and neurotrauma. He has authored more than 250 scholarly articles in peer-reviewed journals and is the editor of four books on minimally invasive spinal surgery and biological disc repair and regeneration.