John D. Heiss, M.D. is the Head of the Surgical Neurology Branch and Program Director of the Neurological Surgery Residency Training Program in the NINDS. Dr. Heiss received both his B.S. in Biomedical Sciences and M.D. degree from the University of Michigan. He completed his surgical internship and his residency in neurosurgery at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. Prior to joining NINDS, Dr. Heiss was co-director of the Neuroscience Intensive Care Unit at the University of Cincinnati and a neurosurgeon in the Mayfield Neurological Institute. He completed a fellowship in neurosurgery research in the Surgical Neurology Branch before joining the senior staff of the Surgical Neurology Branch.

Dr. John S. Yu is a member of the full-time faculty in the Department of Neurosurgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center as well as the founder of ImmunoCellular Therapeutics. An internationally renowned neurosurgeon, Dr. Yu’s clinical focus is on the treatment of malignant and benign brain and spinal tumors. In addition, he is conducting in-depth research in immune and gene therapy for brain tumors. He has also extensively studied the use of neural stem cells as delivery vehicles for brain cancers and neurodegenerative diseases.