Ian F. Pollack, MD

Ian Pollack, MD, is A. Leland Albright Professor of Neurosurgery at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

Prior to joining the faculty of the Department of Neurological Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh in 1992, he was awarded the 1991 Van Wagenen Traveling Fellowship, which afforded him a year of subspecialty training in the Department of Neurosurgery at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, the Neuro-Oncology Laboratory of the University of Lausanne in Switzerland, and the Laboratory of Tumor Biology of the University of Uppsala in Sweden.

Dr. Pollack graduated magna cum laude from Emory University in 1980, where he earned a BS degree in chemistry. He received his medical degree from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1984, then completed a surgical internship and neurosurgical residency at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. He also was a research fellow in neuropathology and neurobiology during some of that time.

Dr. Pollack has published more than 410 papers in refereed journals, numerous book chapters and invited papers, and has edited three books on childhood brain tumors. He is co-editor of the book Principles and Practice of Pediatric Neurosurgery—currently in its third edition—and an accompanying atlas Operative Techniques In Pediatric Neurosurgery as well as Brain and Spinal Tumors of Childhood, a multinational state-of-the-art text.

He is currently a site principal investigator on NIH grants focusing on novel therapies for brain tumors, including immunotherapy in childhood brain tumors. Dr. Pollack was named vice chair of academic affairs for the department in July of 2008.

He also chaired the Children’s Oncology Group CNS Tumor Committee from 1999-2009, and co-chaired the National Cancer Institute Brain Malignancy Steering Committee between 2010 and 2017, and served on the American Board of Pediatric Neurosurgery from 2012-2022, and as chair the final year, and then served as chair of the ABPNS nominating committee. He is also a former director on the Accreditation Council for Pediatric Neurosurgery Fellowships.

Dr. Pollack was chief of pediatric neurosurgery at UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh for over 20 years before passing those duties on to Taylor Abel, MD, on February 1, 2024.

Dr. Pollack's publications can be reviewed through the National Library of Medicine's publication database.