Dr. Mitchell Berger, MD

Dr. Mitchel S. Berger is a nationally recognized expert in treating brain and spinal cord tumors and tumor-related epilepsy in adults and children. He also is a specialist in brain mapping techniques, used to identify areas of motor, sensory, and language function during surgery, and an expert in the use of the Gamma Knife for tumor treatment. Dr. Berger is the Chair of Neurological Surgery at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) Medical Center. He is the Co-Director of the Adult Brain Tumor Surgery Program, Director of the Brain Tumor Research Center, and Director of the Center for Neurological Injury and Repair. In addition, Dr. Berger is the Director of the Adult Hydrocephalus and Shunt Program and practices in the Neuro-Oncology Program and the Radiosurgery Program.

Dr. Berger earned a bachelor’s degree from Harvard College in 1975 and a medical degree from the University of Miami School of Medicine in 1979. He completed an internship and residency at UCSF and was awarded a clinical fellowship in neuro-oncology by the American Cancer Society and a research fellowship with the Brain Tumor Research Center. He completed further fellowship training in neuro-oncology at UCSF and in pediatric neurosurgery at the Hospital for Sick Children of the University of Toronto, Canada. His professional activities include his election to the board of directors of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons and his appointment to the American Board of Neurological Surgeons. Berger is board-certified in neurosurgery.

Dr. Berger’s main clinical interests are the treatment of brain tumors in adults and children as well as epilepsy related to brain tumors. He has extensive expertise in the intraoperative mapping of the brain to identify the sites of motor, sensory, and language function and thereby avoid their involvement or injury during surgery.

His current research interests involve identifying molecular markers in gliomas as correlates of tumor progression and prognosis. He is a Co-Investigator with Dr. John Park in UCSF’s Comprehensive Cancer Center to develop immuno-liposome-directed targeted therapy for treating gliomas that express EGF receptors. Other collaborations include functional mapping localization of language pathways in the brain in conjunction with Dr. Robert Knight and the Cognitive Neuroscience Graduate Program at UC Berkeley.