Nitin Agarwal Joins Department

Nitin AgarwalPittsburgh, February 1, 2023 -- Spine surgery specialist and neurosurgery education advocate Nitin Agarwal, MD, has joined the University of Pittsburgh Department of Neurological Surgery as an associate professor and director of the department’s Minimally Invasive Spine and Robotics Surgery program. 

A 2021 graduate of the department’s residency program, Dr. Agarwal will also work closely with the department’s residency program director, D. Kojo Hamilton, MD, as the program’s associate director. 

Before coming to the University of Pittsburgh, Dr. Agarwal served as director of neurotrauma at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis with a clinical focus in spinal deformity surgery. He also completed a CAST-approved (Committee on Advanced Subspecialty Training) minimally invasive and complex spine surgery fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco with dual training in orthopedics and neurosurgery.

A prolific academician and writer, Dr. Agarwal has published over 275 peer-reviewed articles and has spoken at several regional and national conferences with over 300 oral and poster presentations. His health literacy research has been published in several high impact factor journals including JAMA Internal Medicine and he has also been featured by prominent healthcare-oriented news outlets such as Reuters Health.

An active proponent for advancing student and patient education, Dr. Agarwal has also published four health literacy books, Neurosurgery FundamentalsSurviving Neurosurgery: Vignettes of ResilienceThe Evolution of Health Literacy: Empowering Patients through Improved Education and the newly published Pre-Medicine: The Complete Guide for Aspiring Doctors.

Dr. Agarwal’s clinical specialties include spinal deformity surgery; cervical deformity and disc disease; minimally invasive spine surgery; degenerative scoliosis; reconstructive spine surgery; artificial disc replacement; brain and spine trauma; and sports medicine.