Ira M. Goldstein, MD, FAANS

Doctor's Biography

Dr. Goldstein has a special interest in spine reconstructive and stabilization but seeks the smallest intervention possible for the treatment of each patient’s issues – which in many instances does not involve surgery.  Dr. Goldstein also treats a broad spectrum of neurosurgical disorders, including Chiari malformation, brain tumors, peripheral nerve disorders, epilepsy, and intracranial hemorrhage.

Dr. Goldstein joins New Jersey Brain and Spine following nearly two decades as teaching faculty at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, where he held numerous leadership positions, including the Vice Chairman of the Department, Residency Training Program Director, chief of service at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center and at Jersey City Medical Center, Director of Neurotrauma, and Director of Quality Improvement. He has extensive experience in teaching medical students, residents, and other surgeons, directing training courses at the University, as well as for national societies and in assisting spinal device manufacturers with product development and with surgical skills training. He has served as an examiner for the board certification of practicing neurosurgeons since 2018. His research in clinical neurosurgery outcomes, innovations, and surgical education has resulted in over 50 scientific articles, numerous abstracts, presentations, and book chapters.

His background as an educator of students, residents, and other physicians, and as the son of two former schoolteachers, Dr. Goldstein believes strongly in educating his patients about their conditions and of the various treatments available to them, including those for which he would refer them to other specialists. He feels that offering surgery after noninvasive therapy has not helped, advocating for the smallest reasonable surgery, and empowering patients with a strong understanding of the procedures and the alternatives as well as the expected outcomes results in the greatest comfort for his patients in choosing to undergo surgery and during their recuperation thereafter.

Dr. Goldstein graduated from Cornell University with honors. He received his doctorate of medicine from the University of Chicago Pritzer School of Medicine. He received neurosurgical residency training at the Montefiore Medical Center for neurosurgery residency. Thereafter, Dr. Goldstein completed fellowship training in complex spine surgery at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.