Dr. Ziya L. Gokaslan completed his medical education at the Medical Faculty of Istanbul University. In 1984, Dr. Gokaslan returned to the U.S. and worked as the Clinical Director of Sleep Disorders Center of the Department of Psychiatry for 1 ½ years. He then entered General Surgery Residency under Dr. Michael E. DeBakey in 1985. After one year of internship, he joined Department of Neurosurgery of Baylor College of Medicine as Clinical Neurotrauma Research Fellow. In 1988, he became a Neurosurgery Resident under Dr. Robert G. Grossman and completed his training at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston in 1993. He was, then, accepted into Neurosurgery/Orthopaedic Spine Surgery Fellowship Training under Drs. Paul Cooper and Thomas Errico at the New York University Medical Center in New York. After the completion of his Fellowship Training in Spinal Surgery, Dr. Gokaslan returned to Houston and joined the faculty of Department of Neurosurgery as Assistant Professor at the University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center under Dr. Raymond Sawaya. That is where Dr. Gokaslan specialized in the surgical treatment of spinal neoplasms, published extensively on the topic and developed novel surgical approaches in managing these tumors. 

In 2000, Dr. Gokaslan became the Director of Neurosurgical Spinal Oncology Section and, in 2002, he was appointed as Deputy Chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery and was promoted to Associate Professor. In 2002, Dr. Gokaslan was recruited to Johns Hopkins University, Department of Neurosurgery and became the Director of the Spine Division, Vice-Chairman, and Professor of Neurosurgery, Oncology, and Orthopaedic Surgery under Dr. Henry Brem. Later that year, he was awarded the Donlin M. Long Professorship at Johns Hopkins.

Dr. Gokaslan’s clinical practice focuses on the radical surgical treatment of both primary and metastatic spinal tumors, sacral neoplasms and spinal cord tumors. He developed many novel approaches for resection of pancost tumors, spinal neoplasms, as well as sacral tumors, including total sacrectomy and complex spinal and pelvic reconstruction.

His basic research focuses on the development of new animal models to study the pathophysiology of neoplastic spinal cord compression and to define the roles of proteolytic enzymes in tumor invasion and to devise novel therapeutic approaches to spinal tumors.

Dr. Gokaslan has authored over 200 peer-reviewed papers and has presented over 150 national and international lectures since 1996. He was voted one of the Best Doctors in America in 2005 and garnered Baltimore Magazine’s Top Doctors recognition in 2007. He serves on the editorial boards of top academic journals, including the Journal of Spinal Disorders & Techniques, The Spine Journal, Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine, The European Spine Journal, Nature Reviews in Neurology, Journal of Surgical Oncology, and World Neurosurgery. Dr. Gokaslan is also the Chairman of AANS/CNS Joint Section on Disorders of the Spine and Peripheral Nerves

Dr. Gokaslan is a member of numerous prestigious societies, notably the Spine of Neurological Surgeons since 2007. Cervical Spine Research Society since 2003, American Society of Clinical Oncology since 2001, America Association of Neurological Surgeons since 1998, Congress of Neurological Surgeons since 1997, and North American Spine Society since 1994.

Dr. Gokaslan currently sees patients at the Johns Hopkins Outpatient Center on Thursdays and at the Greenspring Station location on Wednesdays.

Certification:

• The American Board of Neurological Surgery