General Info

David J. Chalif, MD, FACS, is the chair of the Department of Neurosurgery at South Shore University Hospital. He joined Northwell Health in 2005 as the chief of cerebrovascular surgery. With more than 35 years of surgical experience in the treatment of cerebral aneurysms, vascular malformations and malignant and benign brain tumors, Dr. Chalif now leads a multidisciplinary department that treats the full range of neurosurgical disorders.Dr. Chalif founded the Brain Aneurysm Center at North Shore University Hospital, a cutting-edge program consisting of microsurgery, neurointerventional radiology, fellowship training and neurointensive care. In addition to helping to train future physicians at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, he contributes to the future of brain aneurysm treatments through ongoing research and has been published in medical journals such as Neurosurgical Review, World Neurosurgery and Operative Neurosurgery.Dr. Chalif is certified by the American Board of Neurological Surgery (1988) and is a member of numerous professional organizations, including the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, the Congress of Neurological Surgeons and the Cerebrovascular Section of the AANS/CNS. He is a past president of the Nassau Surgical Society (2003) and was past chair of the annual Nassau Surgical Society clinic day in neurosurgery. For the last several years, he has been recognized as one of Castle Connolly s Top Doctors .As a recognized leader in his field, Dr. Chalif has been a recipient of the national Brain Aneurysm Foundation s Physician Champion Award and is a member of the Brain Aneurysm Foundation Medical Advisory Board. He is a true advocate for his patients, having lobbied on Capitol Hill and met with members of the U.S. Congress to raise awareness of brain aneurysms. Dr. Chalif also champions community outreach and spearheads fundraising efforts to support neurosurgery research. He organized and started Long Island s Annual Brain Aneurysm Walk, an annual event that has been running for over a decade and has raised over $800,000 for brain aneurysm research. Dr. Chalif attended medical school at the University of Chicago, graduating in 1979. He trained in neurosurgery at the New York University Department of Neurosurgery from 1979 to 1986, including a fellowship in neurology at the National Hospital for Neurological Diseases at Queen Square, London, in 1981. He earned his BA in biology from Wesleyan University in 1975.