Eric C. Leuthardt, M.D. Neurosurgeon, Washington University in St. Louis

Eric C. Leuthardt, M.D. is a neurosurgeon who is currently an assistant professor with the Department of Neurological Surgery at Barnes Jewish Hospital and the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Washington University in St Louis. Additionally, he is director of the Center for Innovation in Neuroscience and Technology. He completed his training at Barnes Jewish Hospital and Washington University in St. Louis and went on to pursue a combined fellowship in epilepsy and spinal surgery at the University of Washington in Seattle. His research has focused on neuroprosthetics – devices linked to the brain that may lead to cures for paralysis, allow patients to move artificial limbs, or restore other neurological functions. His work in the field of neuroprosthetics and neurosurgical devices has yielded him numerous accolades as a scientist, a neurosurgeon, and an inventor. In 2004, for his work “A Brain-Computer Interface Using Electrocorticographic Signals in Humans” he was awarded the James O’Leary Prize for Outstanding Neuroscience Research at Washington University in St Louis. He was given one of the highest acknowledgments in his field by being presented with the Annual Award of the American Academy of Neurological Surgery in Berlin, Germany. On a national level, he was named one of the Top Young Innovators by MIT’s magazine Technology Review. The magazine names 100 individuals under the age of 35 each year whose work in technology has global impact. Additionally, he was awarded by the St Louis Business Journal as one of the “Top 40 under Forty” to create value to the city of St Louis. He uses an integrated approach by employing multiple domains of expertise ranging from biomedical engineering, clinical neurosurgery, mathematical modeling, complex signal analysis, and computer programming.

Leuthardt is a member of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons and the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, also serving in the Joint Section for Brain Tumors for both societies. He has received several grants and awards of distinction for his neuroscience research and work in creating novel neurosurgical technologies. He received his B.S. in Biology and Theology at St. Louis University in 1995 and received his M.D. at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Medicine in 1999. Leuthardt has twenty four pending patents on file with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for medical devices and brain computer interface technologies.