Former University of Utah neurosurgery resident Walavan Sivakumar, MD was recently named as Chair of the AANS Young Neurosurgeons Committee — a group dedicated to developing and guiding future leaders in the field of neurosurgery.
Dr. Sivakumar is a fellowship-trained neurosurgeon with a focus on skull base and minimally invasive neurosurgery and cerebrovascular surgery. He has always had a special interest in neurosurgical trainee education, serving on multiple committees and gaining recognition on both the local and national levels for his research and leadership.
After completing his fellowship in endoscopic skull base and pituitary surgery and minimally invasive neurosurgery under Dr. Daniel Kelly at the Saint John’s Cancer Institute in Santa Monica, California, Dr. Sivakumar graduated from residency training at the University of Utah in 2017.
“My time at the University of Utah helped establish a neurosurgical foundation that I rely on daily,” said Dr. Sivakumar. “Having the experiences, connections, and mentors that I did proved to me that the U was the right choice for my residency training.
In 2020, Sivakumar was featured in Medscape at 25 as one of the 25 rising stars in medicine. He is now Director of Neurosurgery at Providence Little Company of Mary Medical Center and the Director of Neurovascular Surgery at Pacific Neuroscience Institute.