Back to All News

Zipfel Elected President of the Society of Neurological Surgeons

By Siteman Communications |
Headshot of Gregory J. Zipfel, MD

Head of Taylor Family Department of Neurosurgery is a national leader in the treatment and research of brain tumors and cerebrovascular disorders

Gregory J. Zipfel, MD, the Ralph G. Dacey Distinguished Professor of Neurosurgery and head of the Taylor Family Department of Neurosurgery at WashU Medicine and a research member of Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and WashU Medicine, has been elected president of the Society of Neurological Surgeons.

Zipfel has led the Taylor Family Department since 2019 and is the neurosurgeon-in-chief at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. He also treats patients at The Brain Tumor Center at Siteman, where he specializes in complex tumors of the skull base, including meningioma, schwannoma, acoustic neuroma, craniofacial tumors and chordoma/chondrosarcoma.

Zipfel also specializes in the treatment and research of cerebrovascular conditions such as stroke — work that has led to the development of new treatments to reduce brain injury after brain aneurysms rupture. Additionally, he studies vascular contributions to dementia.

The Society of Neurological Surgeons is the oldest neurosurgical society in the world and was founded to advance the quality of care for neurosurgical patients through education and research. WashU Medicine’s connections to the society go back to Ernest Sachs, MD, a faculty member who was the first professor of neurosurgery in the U.S. and a founding member of the organization in 1920. All five chairs of the WashU Medicine Taylor Family Department of Neurosurgery — including Zipfel’s predecessor and mentor Ralph G. Dacey Jr., MD, who also treated patients at Siteman — have served as president of the society. Zipfel serves as president until the society’s 2027 annual meeting in May.

As a mentor himself, Zipfel is strongly committed to neurosurgery education and is the principal investigator of the National Institutes of Health-funded National Neurosurgeon Research Career Development Program. He also serves in leadership roles with the Neurosurgery Research and Education Foundation and the Emerging Investigator Mentoring Program of the American Academy of Neurological Surgery.