John A. Boockvar, MD, is the Vice Chair of the Department of Neurosurgery at Lenox Hill Hospital and Director of the Brain Tumor Center, and the Pituitary/Neuroendocrine Center of the Department of Neurosurgery and the New York Head and Neck Institute at Lenox Hill and Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospitals. He is a Professor of Neurological Surgery and Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery at the Zucker School of Medicine, and is an investigator at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research where he directs the Laboratory for Brain Tumor Biology and Therapy.
Dr. Boockvar is internationally known for his surgical expertise and for providing patients with safe, effective, and minimally invasive treatment for brain tumors, skull base disorders, and disorders of the spine. His surgical expertise is in benign and malignant brain tumors, skull base and endoscopic pituitary surgery, spinal and peripheral nerve tumors, minimally invasive spinal surgery, and complex spinal disorders. Dr. Boockvar has been recognized for his novel research in brain tumors and stem cell biology. He has been repeatedly named to the lists of New York Magazine’s Top Docs, Best Doctors in New York-Castle Connolly, New York Super Doctors (2020), America's Top Surgeons, America's Best Doctors, and America's Best Doctors for Cancer. His research has been widely published and he has received numerous national awards including the Eric Lichtenstein Humanitarian Award from Voices Against Brain Cancer for his compassionate work in treating patients with brain cancer. In 2016 Dr. Boockvar was elected to the prestigious Academy of Neurological Surgeons. In 2017 he was elected to the Senior Society of the American Board of Neurological Surgery.
Dr. Boockvar is the star of Netflix’s 9-part docuseries Lenox Hill and has been featured on special episodes of The Dr. Oz Show on brain tumors and Medical Mysteries, Good Morning America and The Today Show with Megyn Kelly. He also founded and hosts his own interactive webinar, “ByTheBoock” featuring special guests ranging from CEOs of major companies, authors, biotech experts, and more. Dr. Boockvar is also an honorary surgeon of the NYPD and the New York State Troopers.
David J. Langer, MD, is the Chair of Neurosurgery at Lenox Hill Hospital and Vice President of Neurosurgery for Northwell Health's Western Region. He is Professor of Neurosurgery and Radiology at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell.
Nationally and internationally recognized as a leading neurosurgeon and expert in cerebral revascularization and cerebral aneurysms, Dr. Langer brings more than 22 years of experience to his highly personalized direct patient care practice and specialty in diseases of the brain vessels. One of the few cerebral bypass surgeons in the country, Dr. Langer's award-winning work has been featured in numerous peer-reviewed publications and he has spoken around the globe on vascular disorders such as aneurysms and arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) of the brain.
A third-generation physician, Dr. Langer attended the University of Pennsylvania to receive both his undergraduate and medical school degrees. Dr. Langer remained at Penn to complete his neurosurgical residency under the direction of Eugene Flamm, MD. He later joined Dr. Flamm at a new neurosurgical institute in New York City in 1998. Dr. Langer also completed a mid-career fellowship at the University at Buffalo in cerebrovascular disease treatment including aneurysms, AVMs, and carotid disease.
In 2013, Dr. Langer was recruited as Director of Neurosurgery to start a new department of Neurosurgery at Lenox Hill Hospital. His mission was to develop a world class department built upon talent, empathy and culture. In 2017, Dr. Langer was named the Chairman of Neurosurgery; since then, the department has evolved and is now in US News & World Report’s top 50 in Neurology and Neurosurgery in large part due to the people, process, and culture of the Lenox Hill team.
Dr. Langer has accomplished numerous achievements in 2020 including a Castle Connolly Top Doctor nomination and New York Times Super Doctor title. Most notably, Dr. Langer was featured in Lenox Hill, a Netflix Originals docuseries that shadows four doctors as they balance their personal lives and their dedication to their patients. The series provides an honest and empathetic look into his role as a neurosurgeon in New York City. Simultaneous to the Netflix show’s launch, Dr. Langer spearheaded a global summer internship program, BRAINterns, offering free virtual education to high school through medical students due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Adapting to a new way of teaching, Dr. Langer and his team offered more than 15,000 students shadowing experience through virtual webinars, academic seminars and live neurosurgical procedures.
Daniel Yoshor, MD, is the newly appointed Charles Harrison Frazier Professor and Chair of the Department of Neurosurgery in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and Vice President for Clinical Integration and Innovation for the University of Pennsylvania Health System. Prior to coming to Penn, he served as the Marc J. Shapiro Professor and Chair of the Department of Neurosurgery at Baylor College of Medicine. Born and raised in New York, he received a B.A. in Philosophy from Yeshiva University, and graduated from medical school at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine. He then completed neurosurgical residency training at Baylor College of Medicine, where he developed a research interest in neurophysiology. Following residency, he completed a clinical fellowship in brain tumor and epilepsy surgery and brain mapping at the University of California San Francisco, and then returned to Houston to join the Baylor faculty.
As a clinical neurosurgeon, Dr. Yoshor focuses almost entirely on brain tumor and epilepsy surgery. He has one of the largest experiences in the nation in endoscopic pituitary and skull base tumor surgery. He also has extensive experience in the development and clinical implementation of novel neurotechnologies. He received the Innovation in Clinical Care Award from Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center in 2017.
As an educator, Dr. Yoshor was program director for the Baylor neurosurgery residency program for nearly a decade. He also served as principal investigator for an NINDS R25 Grant for resident research education. In 2012, he was recognized with Baylor College of Medicine’s Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P. Faculty Excellence Award for Educational Leadership. He remains deeply involved in resident education as a department chair at Penn.
As a neuroscientist, Dr. Yoshor is an established principal investigator with ongoing NIH, DARPA, and VA Merit Award funding. Work from his laboratory has been published in leading scientific journals including Cell, Current Biology, eLife, Nature Medicine, Nature Neuroscience, Journal of Neuroscience, Neuron, and PNAS. His long-term research goals are to understand how neural activity in the brain is linked to perception and to develop a cortical visual prosthetic device to restore vision to the blind, in collaboration with a larger team of scientists, engineers, and clinicians.
Lolita K. Jackson, ENG'89 serves as the Special Advisor for Climate Policy & Programs in the New York City Mayor’s Office. She is the climate diplomat for the Mayor’s Office, and is also lead for the administration regarding global work on divestment and climate finance. Prior to her appointment to this role, Ms. Jackson held numerous positions within the New York City Mayor’s Office over the past 14 years, including the Special Initiative for Rebuilding and Resiliency, lead for operational city agencies on Second Avenue Subway, and Manhattan Director of Community Affairs.
Prior to her tenure in the Mayor’s Office, Ms. Jackson worked for Morgan Stanley Investment Management for 12 years as a Vice President. She is a 1989 alumna of the Penn School of Engineering, where she majored in Applied Science with a concentration in Chemical Engineering. Ms. Jackson has been named a Visiting Fellow of Penn Perry World House for 2020-21.
Outside of work, Lolita is a professional singer and has performed around the world, including annual performances in Edinburgh and Glasgow.