General Practitioners

• Osteoporosis
• Primary Care
  For the convenience of our patients and their primary care physicians, Arizona Neurosurgery and Spine At The CORE Institute, PC, has privileges at the following hospitals...
• Family Practice
  Melissa A. Leonard joined the Arizona Neurosurgery and Spine At The CORE Institute, PC staff in June 2012 as a Board Certified Physician Assistant. Her prior experience includes Cardiology and Family Practice. Melissa graduated with Honor from Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where she was awarded a Master’s of Health Science degree in 2008 with the Advanced Degree of Physician Assistant. Working with the attending neurosurgeons and our staff of advanced practice providers, Melissa provides a wide variety of care to our neurosurgical patients including hospital consultations, daily visits and serving as a first surgical assistant in the operating room.
• Infectious Diseases
  Arizona Neurosurgery & Spine Specialist, PC is closely monitoring the latest guidelines of the Arizona Health Department, the Center For Infectious Diseases, Department of Health and Human Services as well as other government agencies regarding the recommendations in regard to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak response plan.

Internists

• Kidney Cancer
• Colon Cancer
• Lung Cancer
  Spine tumors can spread from other parts of the body. These metastasized tumors usually spread from breast or lung cancer in women, and from prostate and lung cancer in men.

Neurologists

• Neurology
  An unusual aspect of brain injuries is that the effects on a patient may be out of proportion with the severity of injury. Therefore, a brain injury classed as “mild” may still have a serious impact on that person’s neurology.
• Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
  If you could see a cross-section of your wrist, the carpal tunnel is easy to discern, a passageway formed by the bones of the forearm and a fibrous band of soft tissue. Passing through this tunnel are nine tendons, two for each finger and one for the thumb. It makes for a tight fit, and it’s through this crowd that the median nerve also passes.
• Epilepsy
  Epilepsy is a blanket term for a spectrum of recurring seizures. Abnormal electrical events fire in the brain and cause the seizures that typify the disorder. Yet, the seizures themselves cover a broad range of patterns, including both people who temporarily seem to zone out and those who collapse and lose muscle control, with many other types of episodes between the extremes.

Radiologist

• Ultrasound
  The condition is typically diagnosed through a neurological exam and brain imaging, including ultrasound, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), or computerized tomography (CT).
• MRI
  3. All MRI, CT, EMG/NCV, Myelogram, Plain X-Ray Reports & last three Office Notes Our office will contact the patient to schedule an appointment. We will return this form to your office with the appointment date/time noted below. Please do not send films prior to the consult. It is the patient's responsibility to bring their films to the appointment. If the patient does not speak English or Spanish, they must bring a translator.
• Radiology
  Originally from Wisconsin, she moved to Arizona upon completion of her Master of Science in Nursing. She earned both her Bachelor of Science in Nursing and Master of Science in Nursing from Alverno College in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She previously earned a Bachelor of Science in Radiology, from Marian University in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, licensed through The American Registry of Radiologic Technologist and had worked in Interventional Radiology and MRI in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
• X-Rays
• Chemotherapy
  If action is necessary, radiation, chemotherapy, corticosteroids, and surgery are options, though not every technique works with every tumor type.
• Interventional Radiology

Surgeons

• General Surgery
  Vikram Kumar, MD, FAANS, Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery at the University of Arizona College of Medicine, earned his bachelor’s degree magna cum laude in Biochemical Sciences from Harvard University. He earned his medical degree on an honors scholarship at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, where he was elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society. Dr. Kumar completed his residency in neurosurgery at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, where he received general surgery and neurosurgery training at The Methodist Hospital, Ben Taub County Hospital, Houston VA, and Texas Children’s Hospital. Dr. Kumar received additional training in neurosurgical oncology at MD Anderson Cancer Center.
• Sciatica
  Also called a pinched nerve, nerve compression is the underlying cause behind such conditions as lower back pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, and sciatica. You can usually avoid permanent damage through early treatment.
• Whiplash
  TBIs include concussions, whiplash, and shaken baby syndrome, among others, each with its own characteristics and, in some cases, symptoms. Strokes, tumors, electric shock, or incidents that cut off or reduce oxygen flow to the brain constitute ABIs.
• Pinched Nerve
• Minimally Invasive Surgery
  Perhaps the biggest advantage minimally invasive surgery offers the patient is reduced pain. Less of the body’s surrounding tissue and structure gets disturbed when compared with open spinal surgery techniques. You’re back on your feet much sooner after conservative surgery too, with shorter stays in hospital, if any is required.
• Hand Surgery
  If carpal tunnel syndrome hits you, there’s nearly a 50% chance that you’ll lose a month of work to treatment and recovery. Repairing carpal tunnel damage is the most common wrist and hand surgery performed today.
• Neurosurgery
  The staff surgeons of Arizona Neurosurgery and Spine At The CORE Institute, located in Phoenix and Peoria, Arizona, are a dynamic group of physicians, trained at some of the most important academic centers in the country.

Dermatologists

• Skin Cancer

Physical Therapists

• Sports Medicine
  Concussions from sports injuries have gained prominence through the media recently, and this reporting underscores how little is understood about brain injuries in general. However, there’s much that is known about how the brain responds to injury, and care under the expert guidance of the doctors of Arizona Neurosurgery and Spine At The CORE Institute, located in Phoenix and Peoria, Arizona.
• Physical Therapy
  Physical therapy involves stretches and exercises designed to relieve irritation around the nerve compressions. You may be advised to discontinue or modify certain movements that contribute to nerve compression.
• Back Pain