Dr. Donlin Long received his medical degree from the University of Missouri. He served his internship in surgery at the University of Minnesota Hospitals. He then completed residency training in neurological surgery at the University of Minnesota Health Science Center and the Brigham-Children’s Hospital Medical Center of Harvard. He received a PhD in neuroanatomy from the University of Minnesota. He served as Clinical Associate at the National Institutes of Health in the Branch of Surgical Neurology while a member of the United States Public Health Service.

In 1967, Dr. Long became Chief of Neurosurgery at the Minneapolis Veterans Administration Hospital and pediatric neurosurgeon at the University of Minnesota. In 1973, Dr. Long became the first director of the Department of Neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins which he founded. He remained neurosurgeon-in-chief at the Johns Hopkins Hospital and Director of the Department of Neurosurgery until 2000.

Dr. Long’s initial research focused upon brain edema and the introduction of steroid therapy for the treatment of brain edema and spinal cord injury. He also studied ischemia, hypoxia, and the blood brain barrier.

Dr. Long was a founding member of the International Society for the Study of Pain. He chaired the study group which managed the introduction of spinal cord stimulation into clinical practice. With engineering colleagues, he developed transcutaneous electrical stimulation (TENS) as a clinical tool, designed an implantable peripheral nerve stimulator, and helped design the first implantable rechargeable nervous system stimulators and drug delivery pumps for medication infusion. He served on the Board of Directors of the American Pain Society and was a founder of the Blaustein Pain Treatment Center at Johns Hopkins. He was a founding member of the Cervical Spine Research Society, and the AANS-CNS sections of Pediatrics, Spine, and Basic Sciences.

Dr. Long’s clinical practice has focused upon skull-base tumors, particularly acoustic neuromas. This focus includes one of the world’s largest series of operations upon acoustic neuromas, a similar large experience with meningiomas of the base of the skull, and a broad experience with all other kinds of benign tumors of the skull base.

Dr. Long also has a longstanding interest in the treatment of spinal problems and the origins of spinal pain. Clinical research has focused upon the value of treatments for spinal pain, both surgical and nonsurgical.

Another major interest has been the treatment of patients who have failed many treatments for spinal pain (the so-called failed back syndrome) and many other kinds of spinal disease including an extensive experience with spinal tumors.

Dr. Long has published well over 250 peer reviewed articles on neurosurgical topics. He has written or edited 15 books and has participated in the production of over 100 chapters for textbooks.

Dr, Long was a founding editor of the Journal Spine and continues to serve as founding editor of Quarterly Neurosurgery. He has been an editor-contributor for the AMA panels for Evaluation of Permanent Impairment and serves on the editorial board or as a reviewer for 18 national and international journals.

Dr. Long is a member of the principal staff of the Applied Physics Laboratory and has served on the NIH Board of Scientific Counselors. He has served as neurosurgery consultant to the Social Security Disability Panels for spine and nervous system. He has been neurosurgery representative to the Counsel of Academic Societies and served on the Administrative Board of that organization. He is on the advisory board of the Johns Hopkins Engineering Research Center and the Center for Complementary Medicine at Johns Hopkins. He is a member of the advisory board of the Agarini Foundation for Research in Neural Regeneration, a member of the Society of Industry Leaders, and a member of the Faculty of 1000.

Dr. Long belongs to 37 professional societies in which he has past, active or honorary membership.

He has received a citation for merit for outstanding achievement in medicine from the University of Missouri Alumni Association, and he has received the Jamison Medal, the Beks Medal and the Ginde Medal in neurosurgery. In 1990, he received the Wakeman Award for research in neuroscience.

Dr. Long’s ongoing clinical research includes the evaluation of the causes of spinal pain, and development of minimally invasive procedures to diagnose and treat spinal pain without surgical intervention, and competency theory in medical education.

Dr. Long sees patients at the Johns Hopkins Outpatient Center in Baltimore on Monday and Thursday mornings. Physician referral is requested, and records and imaging studies may be sent for evaluation prior to any appointment. Dr. Long maintains special programs for patients with acoustic tumors and other skull-base tumors for decision making concerning the most appropriate therapy and maintains a special program for diagnosis of the cause of spinal pain and assignment and decision concerning most appropriate therapy.

Certifications:

• American Board of Neurological Surgery