Lucia Zamorano, MD, FAANOS, FICS

Lucia Zamorano, MD, FAANOS, FICS is a Clinical Professor of Neurological Surgery at Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine and the President and CEO of Michigan Brain and Spine Surgery Center. She graduated with maximal distinction from the Catholic University School of Medicine in Santiago, Chile, earning the Chilean Medical Association Prize as the top graduating medical student in the country. Dr. Zamorano went on to complete advanced neurosurgical training in Chile and Germany, becoming the first female neurosurgeon trained in Chile, and earning her Doctor of Medicine Magna Cum Laude from the Freie University of Berlin. Her early subspecialty training focused on neurosurgical oncology, epilepsy, stereotaxis, radiosurgery, endoscopy, and minimally invasive brain and spine surgery.

After joining Henry Ford Hospital and later Wayne State University and Detroit Medical Center, Dr. Zamorano became a national and international leader in image-guided and computer-assisted neurosurgery. She pioneered the use of image guidance combined with awake craniotomy and functional mapping in Michigan and helped develop interactive navigation systems that became the global standard for modern neurosurgery. She played a central role in introducing Gamma Knife radiosurgery in Michigan and was instrumental in advancing radiosurgical treatment for brain tumors, vascular malformations, epilepsy, and trigeminal neuralgia. In 2000, she helped perform the first robotic brain surgery in the United States. Dr. Zamorano has authored over 600 scientific publications, received numerous national and international honors, and has served in leadership, advisory, and editorial roles for major neurosurgical organizations, journals, and federal research agencies including NIH, NCI, and NASA.