Ohio State University Hospital Program

Program Identity & Fit

Ohio State's seven-year neurosurgery residency is a high-acuity academic program built around a Level 1 trauma center and full subspecialty breadth, including open and endovascular neurosurgery, complex spinal deformity, skull base and cranial oncology, functional neurosurgery/DBS, and pediatric neurosurgery through its Nationwide Children's Hospital affiliation. Research is structurally central: residents receive two dedicated research years with access to NIH-funded labs, and the program explicitly states its mission is to train academic neurosurgeons and future field leaders, admitting only one to three residents per year. Distinctive features include an international Global Surgery Rotation (Poland), a dedicated skull base cadaveric research lab (ALT-VISION), and resident-described flexibility to tailor research years to individual academic interests. The program values operative independence balanced with supervision, academic productivity, and long-term leadership potential over purely community-practice orientation.