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Dr. Disney is no longer accepting office patients.

Dr. Disney believes that patients need an individualized approach to their neurosurgical problems. This includes complex disorders of the spine and brain as well as peripheral nerves. There is no substitute for listening carefully to patients and guiding them to the best approach to their problem. Many problems of the spine and brain give rise to pain or other impediments to quality of life. Dr. Disney utilizes conservative treatments where appropriate to help resolve these problems and return individuals back to active pain free lives. Many patients don’t need surgery but instead find relief with physical therapy, exercise and activity modification. When needed surgery is performed in the least invasive way possible consistent with alleviating the patient’s symptoms and problems.

A frequent recipient of top doctor awards, patient choice awards and most compassionate doctor awards Dr. Disney takes the time to listen carefully to patients concerns and fears. Treatment options are laid out in layman’s terms to allow patients to understand their choices and what is being recommended to them. Most neurosurgical disorders have more than one possible approach to treatment and it is important to empower patients to make the choice that is correct for them.

A graduate of McMaster University in Hamilton Ontario, Dr. Disney initially studied Engineering Physics and later medicine. The critical thinking and problem solving skills of engineering have been applied to neurosurgery with success. A surgical internship at the University of Toronto was followed by Neurosurgical Residency and Fellowship at the University of Alberta where he also obtained a PhD in Experimental Surgery. Dr. Disney has practiced in the same group practice in Southern California since finishing residency. The practice’s name has changed but what has not is a patient centric approach dedicated to achieving the best possible patient outcomes. All the partners of the group share the same philosophy. When not engaged in neurosurgery Dr. Disney enjoys spending time with his family and is an avid skier, cyclist and aviator.

EDUCATION

• Bachelor of Engineering in Engineering Physics, McMaster University 1979
• Doctor of Medicine, McMaster University 1982
• Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Surgery, University of Alberta 1990.
• Completed Neurosurgical Residency in June 1991.
• Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Canada Board Certification in Neurosurgery, 1991.
• GAMMA Knife trained and certified 2009.

ASSOCIATIONS & MEMBERSHIPS

• Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS)
• California Association of Neurological Surgeons (CANS)
• American Medical Association (AMA)
• California Medical Association (CMS)

ARTICLES & JOURNALS

• Article: PubMed.gov Articles

Ramin AmirNovin, MD, FAANS, FCNS (“Dr. A”) is an accomplished neurosurgeon and spinal surgeon at Inland Neurosurgery Institute (INI) in Pomona, California. Dr. AmirNovin has wanted to be a neurological surgeon since the age of thirteen. While volunteering at the Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla, California, he witnessed a life-saving craniotomy (brain surgery) on a trauma patient, and this inspired him immensely. He double-majored in chemistry and biochemistry and graduated with the highest distinction of summa cum laude from the University of California, San Diego, where he was part of the Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society.

He continued his education in New York City, where he obtained his medical degree with the highest honors (Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society and Lucien Rubinstein Award) from New York University Medical School. He completed his general surgery and neurological surgery training at the prestigious Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). He also completed a two-year fellowship program for specialty training in functional/stereotactic neurosurgery at MGH.

Dr. AmirNovin has written several book chapters, numerous articles for peer-reviewed publications, and performed cutting-edge research on brain tumors, movement disorders, pain syndromes, and epilepsy.

Dr. AmirNovin practiced complex general neurosurgery at MGH before moving back to the West Coast to be near his family in 2007. As a board-certified, fellowship-trained neurosurgeon, he has extensive experience in the treatment of complex spine problems and tumors, brain tumors, cranial-spinal trauma, stroke, movement disorders, complex pain syndromes, Parkinson’s, and peripheral nerve diseases.

Dr. AmirNovin believes that the most important service he provides his patients is a “no-hype, no-gimmick, no-pressure approach to neurosurgery.” This is one of the major reasons he joined Inland Neurosurgery Institute, where the other physicians share a similar approach to neurosurgery. He is highly regarded by his patients and the local physicians for doing the least invasive surgery necessary to restore the patient’s health and functional status. He takes the time to explain the disease process to the patient and explains all of the risks and benefits of their various options for treating them.  Dr. AmirNovin is the Senior Partner at INI.

His patient-centered approach to neurological surgery has gained him numerous clinical recognitions based on patient and colleague reviews. He is rated as a Castle Connolly top doctor for multiple years and is routinely a '5-star' medicare participant.  

In his free time, Dr. AmirNovin enjoys spending time with his family, computer programming, skiing, and dabbling in digital photography.

EDUCATION

• 1996: Bachelor of Science in Chemistry / Biochemistry (Summa Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa, Highest Honors)
• 2000: Medical Doctorate (MD) from New york University (NYU) Medical School (Alpha Omega Alpha Honors Society)
• 2000: General Surgery Internship – Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Boston, MA
• 2001-2006: Neurosurgery Residency at Harvard’s Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH)
• 2005-2006: Fellowship training in Functional Neurosurgery at Harvard Medical School Center for CNS Regeneration (includes Surgery for Parkinsons, Complex pain, Image-Guided Surgery,
• Movement Disorders, and Seizure disorders)
• GAMMA Knife trained and certified 2008.
• Board Certified by the American Board of Neurological Surgeons, 2010

ASSOCIATIONS & MEMBERSHIPS

• American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS)
• Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS)
• American Society for Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery (ASSFN)

ARTICLES & JOURNALS

• Article: Trigeminal Neuralgia (TN)
• Article: Deep Brain Stimulation Surgery for Parkinson’s Disease
• Article: PubMed.gov Articles

Dr. Donald Ye has studied the inner workings of the brain and the nervous system his entire career, seeking better ways to fix problems that afflict the brain and spine. As a student, researcher, and clinician, he has had challenged himself to better understand complex neurological pathways and to provide the best solutions for patients and their families with thoughtful clinical judgment and realistic expectations.

Dr. Ye graduated from the University of California, Berkeley as a double major with Highest Honors in Psychology and High Distinction in Molecular and Cell Biology focusing his research on functional imaging of cognitive pathways. He continued his medical education at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University where he fostered his interest in neurosurgery and neurosurgical oncology. During this time, as a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Medical Research Scholars Program, he spent time studying rare tumor syndromes and molecular pathways involved in glioblastoma in the Surgical Neurology Branch at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD.

He completed his neurosurgical residency training at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, PA. Under the leadership of neurosurgical pioneer – Dr. Robert Rosenwasser – he learned the importance of being a well-rounded surgeon capable of treating diseases with all of the tools and techniques available and tailoring them to best suit each individual patient. Trained in the breadth of traditional and minimally invasive approaches to the brain and spine, Dr. Ye understands the value of minimizing risk and maximizing recovery to provide the best overall outcome for his patients. 

Dr. Ye joins Inland Neurosurgery Institute to provide the same high-quality, patient-centric neurosurgical care that his colleagues have provided to the community for decades.

In his free time, Dr. Ye enjoys spending time with his wife and daughter, reading, cooking, and traveling.

EDUCATION

• 2009: Bachelor of Arts in Molecular and Cell Biology and Psychology (High Distinction in General Scholarship)
• 2014: Medical Doctorate (MD) from Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine at Case Western Reserve
  University,
• 2014-2021: Neurosurgery Residency at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital
  
  

ASSOCIATIONS & MEMBERSHIPS

• Resident Member, American Association of Neurological Surgeons
• Resident Member, Congress of Neurological Surgeons
• Member, Pennsylvania Medical Society

ARTICLES & JOURNALS

• Ye, Donald Y., Kamran D. Bakhtian, Ashok R. Asthagiri, and Russell R. Lonser. 2012. “Effect of Pregnancy on Hemangioblastoma Development and Progression in von Hippel-Lindau Disease.” Journal of Neurosurgery 117 (5): 818–24. doi:10.3171/2012.7.JNS12367.
• Hafazalla, Karim, Donald Y. Ye, Timothy Chao, Mark Curtis, Christopher J. Farrell. 2020. “SEGA without clinical or genetically identifiable TSC: A case report.” Case Reports and Series in Surgery (in press)
• Al Saiegh, Fadi, Jacob Mazza, Karim Hafazalla, Thana Theofanis, Donald Y. Ye, Christian Hoelscher, James Harrop, James J. Evans, Pascal Jabbour, Robert H. Rosenwasser, Ashwini D. Sharan. 2020. “Developing standardized titles to classify the adverse events in 7,418 cranial and spinal neurosurgical procedures.” Clinical Neurology and Neurosurgery (in press).
• Sabourin, Victor, Jacob Mazza, Tomas Garzon, Jeffrey Head, Donald Y. Ye, Anthony Stefanelli, Fadi Al-Saiegh, Pascal Lavergne, and James Evans. 2020. “Internal Neurolysis with and without Microvascular Decompression for Trigeminal Neuralgia: Case Series.” World Neurosurgery, July. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wneu.2020.06.206.
• Sabourin, Victor, Jacob Mazza, Tomas Garzon-Muvdi, Donald Y. Ye, Anthony Stefanelli, Fadi Al Saiegh, Daniel Tzou, and James J. Evans. 2019. “Internal Neurolysis With and Without Microvascular Decompression for Trigeminal Neuralgia.” Neurosurgery 66 (Supplement_1). https://doi.org/10.1093/neuros/nyz310_191.
• Gordon, Ira K., Jie Lu, Christian A. Graves, Kristin Huntoon, Jason M. Frerich, Ryan H. Hanson, Xiaoping Wang, Christopher Hong, Winson Ho, Michael J. Feldman, Barbara Ikejiri, Kheem Bisht, Xiaoyuan S. Chen, Anita Tandle, Chunzhang Yang, Tristram W. Arscott, Donald Ye, John D. Heiss, Russell R. Lonser, Kevin Camphausen, Zhengping Zhuang. 2015. “Protein Phosphatase 2A Inhibition with LB100 Enhances Radiation Induced Mitotic Catastrophe and Tumor Growth Delay in Glioblastoma.” Molecular Cancer Therapeutics 14 (7): 1540–47. doi:10.1158/1535-7163.MCT-14-0614.
• Yang, Chunzhang, Joey C. Matro, Kristin M. Huntoon, Donald Y. Ye, Thanh T. Huynh, Stephanie M. J. Fliedner, Jan Breza, Zhengping Zhuang, and Karel Pacak. 2012. “Missense Mutations in the Human SDHB Gene Increase Protein Degradation without Altering Intrinsic Enzymatic Function.” FASEB Journal: Official Publication of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology 26 (11): 4506–16. doi:10.1096/fj.12-210146.
• Lu, Jie, Chunzhang Yang, Masako Chen, Donald Y. Ye, Russell R. Lonser, Roscoe O. Brady, and Zhengping Zhuang. 2011. “Histone Deacetylase Inhibitors Prevent the Degradation and Restore the Activity of Glucocerebrosidase in Gaucher Disease.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 108 (52): 21200–205. doi:10.1073/pnas.1119181109.
• Buchsbaum, Bradley R., Donald Ye, and Mark D’Esposito. 2011. “Recency Effects in the Inferior Parietal Lobe during Verbal Recognition Memory.” Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 5: 59. doi:10.3389/fnhum.2011.00059.
• Andrews, David W., Kevin D. Judy, Charles B. Scott, Samantha Garcia, Larry A. Harshyne, Lawrence Kenyon, Kiran Talekar, Adam Flanders, Kofi Buaku- Atsina, Lyndon Kim, Nina Martinez, Wenyin Shi, Maria Werner-Wasik, Haisong Liu, Mikhail Prosniak, Mark Curtis, Rhonda Kean, Donald Y. Ye, Emily Bongiorno, Aurore LeBrun, Sami Sauma, Kara Pigott, D. Craig Hooper. 2020. “IGV-001 in Newly Diagnosed Glioblastoma”. Journal of Clinical Oncology. Manuscript in submission.
• Ye, Donald Y., Thana Theofanis, Tomas Garzon-Muvdi, James J Evans. (in press). “Role of Hospital Medicine in the Management of Intracranial Brain Tumors” In R. Daniel and C. Harrop (Eds.), The Neurosurgery Hospitalist Manual. New York: Oxford University Press.
• Ye, Donald Y., Jonathan Riley, Ravichandra Madineni, Shannon Clark, Chengyuan Wu, Steven Falowski, Ashwini D. Sharan. (2018). “Spinal Cord Stimulation: Placement of Surgical Leads via Laminotomy: Techniques and Benefits.” In E. S. Krames, P. H. Peckham, A. R. Rezai (Eds.), Neuromodulation: Comprehensive Textbook of Principles, Technologies, and Therapies (Second Edition), (pp. 513-522). Cambridge: Academic Press.

Board-certified neurosurgeon Ali H. Mesiwala, MD, FAANS, takes a solution-based approach to determine anatomic and functional abnormalities and then treats them with leading-edge technologies and integrative medicine.

At his four offices in Newport Beach, Marina del Rey, and Rancho Cucamonga, California, he focuses on helping all of their patients return to their normal lives, getting back into motion as quickly as possible.

The team treats a vast array of neurological conditions. After intensive neurological exams and diagnostic testing, they recommend the best nonsurgical treatments for each person's unique health care needs. They recommend surgery when symptoms are severe or persist despite conservative care.

Patients seek Dr. Mesiwala for his expertise in brain and spine surgery, as well as peripheral nerve surgery and artificial disc replacement surgery. 

He's an expert in complex brain and skull base surgeries, and he has the most experience in artificial disc replacements on the West Coast, including multi-level operations and all types of spinal decompressions.

Dr. Mesiwala is a leader in the field of minimally invasive sacroiliac (SI) joint surgery and has performed endoscopic cranial and spinal surgery since 2004. No matter where pain originates, patients get relief after he performs neuromodulation surgery.

After earning a Bachelor of Science in biomedical engineering and electrical engineering from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, Dr. Mesiwala received his Doctor of Medicine from the University of California, San Francisco. 

Then he finished his neurological surgery residency at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington.

He completed his skull base and cerebrovascular fellowships at the University of Washington, International Neuroscience Institute in Hannover, Germany, and the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

As a respected researcher specializing in the development of novel technologies and minimally invasive techniques for brain and spine surgery, Dr. Mesiwala holds multiple patents for medical devices used in spinal surgery. 

In addition to his private practice, Dr. Mesiwala is the faculty surgeon for various artificial disc operations and spinal fusion operations with innovative techniques. He's a fellow of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (FAANS).

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Board-certified neurosurgeon Brian R. Gantwerker, MD, specializes in the treatment of spinal and neurological conditions. He is fellowship-trained in complex spinal surgery and has been practicing for well over a decade.

At The Craniospinal Center of Los Angeles, patients benefit from his extensive experience treating complex brain and spine problems with minimally invasive techniques, and traditional surgery.  Working with new techniques such as neuro navigation, spinal endoscopy, and also providing direct patient care with a physician, Dr. Gantwerker makes the patient paramount.

Well-respected in his field, Dr. Gantwerker has authored several book chapters and peer-reviewed journal articles. He has also appeared on podcasts, television, and radio interviews and has instructed undergraduates, medical students, and residents in various neurosurgical topics.

A Chicago native, Dr. Gantwerker earned a degree with honors in psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. He went on to receive his medical degree from Rush Medical College in Chicago, where he focused on peripheral nerve regeneration research.

After completing his neurosurgical residency at University Hospitals of Cleveland / Case Western, Dr. Gantwerker studied spinal cord regeneration with stem cells at Case Western School of Medicine. He completed a complex spine fellowship at the world-renowned Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Arizona.

Dr. Gantwerker is a member of the Phi Beta Kappa and Golden Key honor societies. He is an active member of key esteemed professional organizations, including the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS), the Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS),  and the North American Spine Society (NASS).  He’s also a board member of the California Association of Neurological Surgeons (CANS). Dr. Gantwerker is a board-certified diplomate of the American Board of Neurological Surgeons (ABNS).