Biography
Dr. Bernardo received an MD from University of Naples "Federico II" where he graduated Summa cum Laude. He completed his Neurosurgery residency at University of Naples and at the Western General Hospital/University of Edinburgh in Edinburgh, Scotland. Dr Bernardo has served as scholar at the University of California, Irvine from 1997 to 1999. He spent one year in 1999 as a volunteer neurosurgeon in Peru, where he established skull base surgery programs in hospitals throughout the country, representing the Foundation for International Education in Neurosurgery (F.I.E.N.S.). In 2000 he became director of the Microneurosurgery Skull Base Laboratory at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. After a 2-years fellowship training in skull base surgery at the Barrow's Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Arizona under Dr. Robert Spetzler, he joined the Department of Neurosurgery at Weill Cornell Medical College as Assistant Professor and director of the Skull Base Surgery Laboratory.
Dr Bernardo has established himself as a pioneer and imminent expert in the understanding of microsurgical anatomy. At the Barrow he developed a three-dimensional surgical simulator to teach surgeons the visual-spatial skills required to perform skull base surgical approaches. The project is called interactive virtual dissection (IVD) and integrates cadaveric dissections, 3-D visualization, virtual reality, and computerized simulation for training of surgical procedures.
Dr Bernardo has been invited to direct over 100 surgical courses in the United States and in many different countries and is frequently invited as guest and honored speaker at many international neurosurgical meetings throughout the world. He has trained over 3,000 neurosurgeons in his skull base surgery courses around the world and 15 international fellows since he has joined the Department of Neurosurgery at Weill Cornell. He has established medical corporate consulting relationships in the United States and is currently international neurosurgical consultant in several countries where he continues to operate on complex skull base surgical cases on a routine basis. His fields of interest are skull base surgery, cerebrovascular surgery and virtual reality in medicine. He is active member of the Italian association of neurosurgeons, the Register of Neurosurgeons of the United Kingdom, and honorary member of the Peruvian Association of neurological Surgeons, of the Peruvian Academy of Surgery, the Caribbean Association of Neurological Surgeons, and the Venezuelan Association of Neurological Surgeons.
Teaching experience
trained over 3,000 neurosurgeons in skull base surgery courses around the world
December, 2010 - Faculty at the course on "Surgical Approaches to the 3rd ventricle", Naples, Italy.
November 15-16 - Faculty at The "Anspach Skull Base Surgery course" 2010 for senior ENT residents, Palm Beach, Florida
November 12-13 - Faculty at The "Anspach Skull Base Surgery course" 2010 for senior neurosurgical residents, Palm Beach, Florida
September 2010 - Course director: "Surgical Approaches to the Skull Base" in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
July 16-17, 2010 Faculty at The "Anspach Skull Base Surgery course" for senior ENT residents, Palm Beach, Florida
July 19-20, 2010 - Faculty at The "Anspach Skull Base Surgery course" for senior neurosurgical residents, Palm Beach, Florida
February 2010 - Course director: 4th Cornell Surgical Approaches to the Skull Base 3 days hands-on course with 3D technology at the Anspach Laboratories, Palm Beach, Florida
November 15-16 - Faculty at The "Anspach Skull Base Surgery course" 2009 for senior ENT residents, Palm Beach, Florida
November 6-7 - Faculty at The "Anspach Skull Base Surgery course" 2009 for senior neurosurgical residents, Palm Beach, Florida
November 2009 - Course director: "Surgical Approaches to the Skull Base" in Cali, Colombia
September 23-25 - International invited faculty at 2nd interdisciplinary AO course 2009 on Skull Base Surgery / Approaches to the Lateral Skull Base
August 7-9, 2009 - International invited faculty at the course on "Cerebral aneurysms" in Lima, Peru
July 28-31, 2009 - International invited faculty at the course on "Surgical Appoaches for Cerebral aneurysms" in Sao Paulo, Brazil
July 27-28,2009 - Faculty at The "Anspach Skull Base Surgery course" for senior ENT residents, Palm Beach, Florida
July 24-25,2009 - Faculty at The "Anspach Skull Base Surgery course" for senior neurosurgical residents, Palm Beach, Florida
April 2009 - Faculty at 1st International Skull Base Surgery Course & Workshop, at the Military Hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
March 2009 - Course director: "Surgical Approaches to the Skull Base" in Cartagena, Colombia.
March 2009 - Course director: "Surgical Approaches to the Skull Base" in Barranquilla, Colombia.
February 2009 - Course director: 3rd Cornell Surgical Approaches to the Skull Base 3 days hands-on course with 3D technology at the Anspach Laboratories, Palm Beach, Florida
November 10-11 - Faculty at The "Anspach Skull Base Surgery course" 2008 for senior ENT residents, Palm Beach, Florida
November 7-8 - Faculty at The "Anspach Skull Base Surgery course" 2008 for senior neurosurgical residents, Palm Beach, Florida
October 2008 - Course director: pre-congress course on "Skull Base Surgery" at the Congress of Latin American Neurosurgical Federation in Bogota" , Colombia.
October 2008 - International Invited Faculty at the "Surgery of the Skull Base and Cisterns" course at Menaggio, Como, Italy.
July 2008 - International Invited Faculty at the "Advanced Skull Base Course" at University "La Sapienza", Rome, Italy.
July 28-29,2008 - Faculty at The "Anspach Skull Base Surgery course" for senior ENT residents, Palm Beach, Florida
July 25-26,2008 - Faculty at The "Anspach Skull Base Surgery course" for senior neurosurgical residents, Palm Beach, Florida
July 27-28,2008 - Faculty at The "Anspach Skull Base Surgery course" for senior neurosurgical residents, Palm Beach, Florida
March 2008 - International Invited Faculty at the "Surgery of the Skull Base and Cisterns" course at Hospital "Le Molinette", University of Turin, Italy.
December 2007 - Course director: Surgical Approaches to the Skull Base. 3 days hands-on course with 3D technology at Cornell University, New York
July 27-28,2007 - Faculty at The "Anspach Skull Base Surgery course" for senior neurosurgical residents, Palm Beach, Florida
July 30-31,2007 Faculty at The "Anspach Skull Base Surgery course" for senior ENT residents, Palm Beach, Florida
December 2006 - Course director: Surgical Approaches to the Skull Base. 3 days hands-on course with 3D technology at Cornell University, New York
November 2006 - Faculty at The "Anspach Skull Base Surgery course" for senior neurosurgical residents, Palm Beach, Florida
July 2006 - Faculty at The "Anspach Skull Base Surgery course" for senior residents, Palm Beach, Florida
December 2005 - Directed a pre-congress course on "Skull Base Surgical anatomy and virtual reality" at the National Italian Congress of Neurological Surgeons in Turin, Italy.
November 2005 - Directed a pre-congress course on "Skull Base Surgery" at the at the XII National Peruvian Congress of Neurological Surgeons in Lima, Peru.
November 2005 - Faculty at The "Anspach Skull Base Surgery course" for senior residents, Palm Beach, Florida
September 2005 - Directed a skull base surgical course at the National meeting for neurosurgical residents in Mexico City
July 2005 - Faculty at The "Anspach Skull Base Surgery course" for senior residents, Palm Beach, Florida
July 2005 - Directed a pre-congress course on "Skull Base Surgery" at the XVIII National Mexican Congress of Neurological Surgeons in Merida, Mexico.
June 2005 - Faculty at the "Management of Challenges in Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery" course at Cornell University, New York, NY.
May 2005 - Directed a course on "skull base surgical approaches" at the Universita' Pontificia Catolica of Santiago, Chile.
May 2005 - Faculty at the "Advanced Endoscopic skull base surgery" course at the University of Cornell, New York, NY.
January 2005 - Visiting Professor at The University of Guadalajara.
Co-director (with Dr. AJ Rothon) of a 3-days skull base surgery dissection course (with 3D technology). Guadalajara, Mexico
October 2004 - Directed a 2 days pre-congress 3D course on "Skull Base Surgery" at the Congress of Latin American Neurosurgical Federation in Panama City, Panama.
October 2004 - Directed a 1 day workshop on application of powered surgical instruments in neurosurgery in Santa Cruz, Bolivia.
August 2004 - Directed a 2-days skull base dissection course" at the Hospital General of Mexico, Mexico
July 2004 - Directed 3 surgical workshops at 3 different hospitals, Red Cross Hospital, the Hospital Los Angeles Pedrogal in Mexico City, and at the General Hospital, in Toluca, Mexico
June 2004 - Directed 2 days temporal bone dissection course course, with 3D technology sponsored by the Medical School of the Hospital de Especialitades del Centro Medico Nacional "Siglo XXI", in Mexico City, Mexico
June 2004 - Directed a 2-days surgical course on ‘transpetrosal approaches in skull base surgery" at the National Social Security Hospital " Civil Nuevo", in Guadalajara, Mexico
May 2004 - Directed a 2-days surgical course (with 3D technology) on "dissection of the temporal bone", at the Medical School of the University of Nuevo Leon in Monterrey, Mexico
April 2004 - Directed a 2-days workshop on application of powered surgical instruments in neurosurgery, Guadalajara, Mexico
March 2003 - Visiting Professor at the University of Illinois at Peoria
March 2003 - Directed a 2-days dissection course on "transpetrosal approaches to the base of the skull" at the International meeting of Otolaryngology sponsored by the Universitad Javeriana of Bogota, Colombia
February 2003 - Faculty at the Skull Base Surgery workshop at the Barrow Neurological Institute, Phoenix, AZ
January 2003 - Directed a 3 days dissection course ( with virtual reality technology) on skull base surgery at the International Meeting of Neurosciences at the University of West Indies, Mona-Kingston, Jamaica
December 2002 - Directed a 3 days dissection course with 3D technology on "surgical approaches to the base of the skull" at the University of Bucaramanga, Colombia.
October 2002 - Directed a 2 days pre-congress course on "Skull Base Surgery" at the Congress of Latin American Neurosurgical Federation in Lima , Peru'.
May 2002 - Directed a 4 days course on "transpetrosal approaches to the clivus" at University of Caracas, Venezuela
November 2001 - Directed a 2 days workshop on "dissection of cavernous sinus and parasellar region" at the XVIII international Simposium in Neurosurgery in Bogota', Colombia.
March 2001 - Directed a 2 days "Temporal Bone Dissection Course" at the III International Meeting of Neurosciences in Bogotá, Colombia
August 2000 - Directed a "Temporal Bone Dissection Course" at the Annual Meeting of the Colombian Congress of Neurosurgeons in Medellin, Colombia
1999-2000 - Directed "skull base surgery courses" at various hospitals in Lima, Arequipa, Iquitos (Peru')
1997-1999 - Research tutor for medical student and post-graduates at University of Califoria, Irvine Organized and co-directed monthly dissection courses on skull base surgery for neurosurgical residents at UCI
1993 - 1994 - Clinical tutor in Neurological Surgery for medical student and post-graduates at University of Naples, Italy
1991 - 1993 - Teaching Pharmacology, Infectious Diseases and Neuropsychiatry at Professional School for Nurses, Italy
Visiting Professor
- Instituto de Ciencias Neurologicas " Oscar Trelles" of Lima, Peru', March 2000
- University "Federico Villareal" of Lima, Peru', February 2000
- University of Caracas, Venezuela, May 2002
- University of Bucaramanga, Colombia, December 2002
- University of West Indies, Mona-Kingston, Jamaica, January 2003
- University of Illinois at Peoria, March 2003
- University ‘La Sapienza" , Rome, Italy, April 2004
- University of Guadalajara, Mexico January 2005
- University of Padua, Italy, September 2006
- University of Naples, Italy, September 2006
- University "La Sapienza" Rome, Italy, September 2006
- University of Verona, Italy, November 2008
- George Washington University, Washington, November 2010
