#81: Theodore Schwartz - Gray Matters: brain surgery from the inside, the history and the future of neurosurgery

May 29, 2026 · 2 hr 1 min · 12 segments

Theodore H. Schwartz is a neurosurgeon, author, and the David and Ursel Barnes Endowed Professor of Minimally Invasive Neurosurgery at Weill Cornell Medical Center and New York-Presbyterian Hospital. In this episode of Stimulating Brains, we talk about his book Gray Matters: A Biography of Brain Surgery, a vivid account of what brain surgery really is – personally, technically, historically, psychologically, and morally. We discuss what it actually feels like to be a neurosurgeon: the preparation before a difficult case, the pressure of thousands of micro-decisions, the responsibility for movement, language, memory, and personhood, and the question of when to enter the brain further and when to stop. We also talk about Ted's path from music and astrophysics toward neurosurgery, the culture of surgical training, trauma and gunshot wounds, the history of pioneers such as Cushing, Penfield, Dandy and others, as well as modern brain surgery, pituitary and skull-base surgery, awake mapping, aneurysms, epilepsy, psychosurgery and deep brain stimulation. We even wander toward consciousness, free will, brain-computer interfaces, and the future of less invasive and more computational neurosurgery. At the center of these more philosophical questions lies a deceptively simple question: what can brain surgery teach us about the brain, the self, and the stories we use to understand who we are?