Radiculopathy near Arlington, VA

Biography: Rizwan Tahir, MD, joins MedStar Health as a neurosurgeon for the department of Neurosurgery. Dr. Tahir is a member of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons and the Congress of Neurological Surgeons. His research interests include cerebral vascular and endovascular neurosurgery, specifically as it pertains to stroke and vascular malformations and aneurysms.Neurosurgery at MedStar Health is a highly sophisticated and experienced program comprised of subspecialists who are leaders in their respective fields of practice including brain tumor and blood vessel abnormalities, seizure disorders, spinal disease and injury, and stroke management. MedStar Health neurosurgeons pride themselves in offering patients the full array of available options for diagnosis and treatment and in customizing these to individual patients.

Biography: Jae Y. Lim, M.D., FAANS currently serves as the Chief of Neurosurgery Trauma at Reston Hospital Center. He also serves on the clinical faculty of Neurosurgery at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine Northern Virginia Campus. Prior to his arrival in Northern Virginia, Dr. Lim practiced at Inland Neurosurgery and Spine in Spokane, Washington from 2001 to 2006, and also held the position of Head of Neurovascular Surgery at Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane, the first nationally certified comprehensive stroke center in the United States. Following his graduation from Stanford with dual degrees in both economics and biological sciences, Dr. Lim attended Yale Medical School for the purpose of obtaining his medical degree. Dr. Lim then went on to complete a surgical internship, neurosurgery residency, and fellowship all at the UCLA Medical Center, in addition to completing a fellowship in complex spinal surgery at the Cedar-Sinai institute of Spinal Disorder. Dr. Lim is a past president of the Korean American Spine Society and continues to lecture nationally and internationally as an invited speaker. Dr. Lim is the only member of the Society for Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery (SMISS) in Northern Virginia, and has been honored as a Northern Virginia Top Neurosurgeon in 2017, 2015 and 2010, a Washington top doctor in 2019, in addition to being named one of America's Top Doctors from 2004 to 2006.

Biography: Dr. Nikhil Nayak, MD, FAANS is a board-certified, fellowship-trained neurological surgeon with advanced training in spinal disorders. He specializes in minimally invasive, complex, and image-guided spinal surgery for degenerative, traumatic and oncologic conditions including cervical myelopathy, cervical and lumbar radiculopathy, spinal stenosis, spine fractures, primary and metastatic spinal tumors, adult degenerative scoliosis, and revision spinal surgery. He performs general cranial neurosurgery for brain tumors, intracranial hemorrhage, hydrocephalus, and related conditions, and participates in emergency call for brain and spine trauma. Dr. Nayak's versatility in spinal surgery affords him the ability to offer patients the full spectrum of available options for their spinal conditions, and he is frequently called upon to provide second opinions once surgery has been recommended. He is an early adopter of technological advances in neurosurgery and has specific expertise in artificial disc replacement, minimally invasive robotic spinal fusion, and non-fusion alternatives such as laminoplasty and ultrasonic-assisted spinal decompression. Dr. Nayak earned his MD and MHS degrees from Yale University and is a magna cum laude graduate of Georgetown University. He completed neurosurgery residency at the University of Pennsylvania and a clinical spine fellowship at Wellington Hospital in New Zealand. Dr. Nayak is Vice Chairman of Neurosurgery at Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington, VA and Clinical Instructor of both Neurology and Medicine at the George Washington University School of Medicine. He has co-authored over 25 peer-reviewed publications and has a special interest in tracking functional outcomes following spinal surgery. He is a Fellow of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons and regularly voted ``Top Doctor`` by DC-area publications.