Professor of Neurosurgery
Barrow Brain and Spine
Luis Manuel Tumialán is a Professor of Neurosurgery at the Barrow Neurological Institute who specializes in minimally invasive spinal surgery. He graduated from Georgetown University, completed a surgical internship in the Navy before serving as a Dive Medical Officer at the Naval Special Warfare Unit-1 in Guam during the Global War on Terror. Dr. Tumialán completed his neurosurgery residency at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia and then returned to complete his naval obligation at the Naval Medical Center in San Diego before joining the group at the Barrow. He has published 81 peer reviewed manuscripts and 19 book chapters. Most recently, he has published a single authored textbook entitled, “Minimally Invasive Spinal Surgery: A Primer”. Dr. Tumialán is a member of the Joint Section of the Disorders of Spine and Peripheral Nerves, where he has served as the Scientific Program Chair and currently serves as the Secretary for the organization. He is a member of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS), where he serves on the Scientific Program Committee, American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS), where he serves as the Chair of the Practice Management Committee, and the Society of Minimally Invasive Spine Surgeons (SMISS), where he has also served as the Scientific Program Chair. Finally, he serves on the JNS Spine editorial board. He lives in Phoenix, Arizona with his wife, Andrea, his daughter and three sons.