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2026 AANS Annual Scientific Meeting Main banner

    Corinna Zygourakis, MD, FAANS, FCNS

    Associate Professor of Neurosurgery
    Stanford University
    Stanford University

    Corinna Zygourakis, MD, FAANS, FCNS, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Neurosurgery at Stanford University School of Medicine and a board-certified neurological surgeon who specializes in comprehensive surgical care of the adult spine, focusing on the treatment of complex spinal disorders, including spinal deformity, revision surgery, and spinal tumors. Dr. Zygourakis employs the latest minimally invasive and motion-sparing techniques to achieve the best outcomes for her patients. Her philosophy is to take care of patients with respect and compassion, as she would want her own family treated.
    Dr. Zygourakis trained at the Johns Hopkins Hospital for her combined neurosurgery and orthopedic surgery complex spine fellowship, where she performed the first surgery internationally with the Globus Excelsius spinal robot. She completed her neurosurgery residency at the University of California, San Francisco, and obtained her M.D. degree cum laude from Harvard Medical School. She received her B.S. degree with honors from the California Institute of Technology, where she received a full merit scholarship and the Mabel Beckman Commencement Prize to the Top Graduating Woman in her class. She has received numerous awards including “Top 20 Under 40 Spine Surgeons” (SpineLine, North American Spine Society) and the Paul and Daisy National Fellowship for New Americans.
    Committed to serving and advocating for spine patients through her clinical, education, and research efforts, Dr. Zygourakis has published more than 120 scientific articles and book chapters on spine surgery outcomes, costs, and quality of care. Her current research efforts include leading the first randomized clinical trial using the Apple Watch to objectively track patient movement and function before and after spine surgery, as well as multiple studies investigating the impact of race, gender, and socioeconomic status on spinal surgery access and outcomes.
    At Stanford, Dr. Zygourakis is actively involved in quality improvement efforts and serves as the department Physician Improvement Lead, as well as the neurosurgery representative on the Stanford Hospital Medical Executive Committee and the Value Based OR Management Committee. She serves on the editorial boards of the premier journals Neurosurgery and Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine. Dr. Zygourakis is active nationally in organized neurosurgery, serving on the Executive Committee of the AANS/CNS Spine Section and Women in Neurosurgery (WINS). She is also involved in global neurosurgery efforts through the World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies, particularly focused on underserved areas including sub-Saharan Africa and southeast Asia.

    Disclosure(s): No financial relationships to disclose

    Presentation(s):