Henry Heesang Woo, MD


Henry Woo, MD, is vice president of neurosurgery for Northwell Health s central region and director of cerebrovascular surgery at North Shore University Hospital. An internationally recognized cerebrovascular neurosurgeon and interventional neuroradiologist, he has expertise in both open surgery and endovascular neurosurgery, giving him the ability to choose the most appropriate approach for each patient s blood vessel disorder of the brain or spinal cord. He treats brain aneurysms, arteriovenous malformations and other cerebrovascular diseases, including acute stroke.Dr. Woo has helped develop and refine many of the tools and approaches used today in the treatment of cerebrovascular disease, having led or participated in more than 50 clinical trials. He was instrumental in the first study of an embolization device for uncoilable aneurysms, an innovation that has made possible a less-invasive form of treatment for many kinds of aneurysms. He also played an important role in trials of stent-assisted coiling for aneurysms, and angioplasty and stenting for intracranial atherosclerotic disease, among other advances. Dr. Woo is also founder and CEO of Vascular Simulations, LLC, best known for the development of the Vascular Replication Simulator, which enables neurointerventionalists to practice procedures on a model that precisely mimics a patient s anatomy and pathology, allowing them to fine-tune their approach before performing the actual treatment. Dr. Woo graduated from New York University School of Medicine, where he completed his residency in neurological surgery and a fellowship in interventional neuroradiology. Before coming to Northwell Health in 2017, he served as vice chair and director at other top-ranked neurosurgery institutions, and earned an Innovator Award for three consecutive years in recognition of his many medical inventions.Dr. Woo is a member of numerous professional organizations, including the American Association of Neurological Surgeons and the Congress of Neurological Surgeons, and is a reviewer for Neurosurgery and other leading journals in the field. He has been repeatedly featured in New York magazine s Best Doctors issue and Castle Connolly s Top Doctors of the New York metro area and Long Island.Dr. Woo is associate director of the neurosurgery residency program at North Shore University Hospital, where he established a Committee of Subspecialty Training-accredited fellowship. He shares his philosophy with his students, stressing the need to first absorb the breadth of data on cerebrovascular treatments and then develop an individualized approach to each specific patient, and the responsibility to be unflagging in the effort to develop and improve the field.