John Ragheb, MD

Dr. John Ragheb is chief of the Department of Surgery at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital. He was promoted to Professor of Clinical Neurosurgery and Pediatrics in June of 2008. He has served as the Chief of Pediatric Neurosurgery at the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Hospital from July 1996 to the present. Dr. Ragheb is a graduate of the Johns Hopkins University and the University of Michigan School of Medicine. He was trained in neurosurgery at the University of Maryland and completed a fellowship in pediatric neurosurgery at the New York University Medical Center.

Dr. Ragheb is board certified by the American Board of Neurological Surgery and the American Board of Pediatric Neurological Surgery. He is a member of the following local, national, and international organizations: The Global Health Council, The American Academy of Pediatrics Medical Device Committee, The Children’s Brain Trust Steering Committee, The American Academy of Pediatrics, The Congress of Neurological Surgeons, The American College of Surgeons, The American Society for Pediatric Neurosurgery, The American Association of Neurological Surgeons, The Florida Neurosurgical Society, The Medical Executive Committee for the AANS/CNS Section on Pediatric Neurosurgery, and The Greater Miami Pediatric Society. In addition, he is a founding member on the Board of Directors for The Child Foundation, Inc. and has recently been appointed Chairman of the Membership and Credentials Committee for the American Society of Pediatric Neurosurgery, and serves as a director on the American Board of Pediatric Neurological Surgery.

A well-published author, Dr. Ragheb has written extensively on the subjects of intramedullary tumors of the spinal cord, pediatric traumatic brain injury, and pediatric epilepsy surgery. His areas of clinical interest in addition to the above listed topics include hydrocephalus, spina bifida, tethered spinal cord, congenital anomalies of the central nervous system, neuroendoscopy, pediatric neuro-oncology, arteriovenous malformations, Chiari malformations, brain tumors, craniofacial anomalies, and spasticity.

An extraordinary humanitarian, in 2003, Dr. Ragheb created a program to treat hydrocephalus in children in Haiti under the sponsorship of Project Medishare. An all-volunteer surgical team travels to Haiti twice per year to perform surgeries on children with hydrocephalus, approximately twenty surgeries being performed during each trip. The program's goal has evolved to develop a neurosurgery training program with Haiti's Minister of Health and the Dean of the National School of Medicine in Port-Au-Prince. The efforts have recruited pediatric neurosurgeons, as well as other specialists from several U.S. programs.

Since the January 2010 earthquake, Dr. Ragheb has returned several times to provide urgent medical care to the injured at Project Medishare’s field hospital. He leads a team of specialists and organizations in the United States and Haiti who are working to establish training and educational programs, offering to coordinate the continuous presence of North American trained neurosurgeons as teachers and surgical mentors. The goal is to have a self sustaining program that could extend to funding and supporting a specialty hospital for children and provide training for pediatricians and pediatric specialists.

The Nicklaus Children's Neuroscience Institute is dedicated solely to the care of the developing brain and spine. With five marquis specialty centers and over a dozen multidisciplinary specialty programs focused on the treatment of complex neurological conditions, the Neuroscience Institute receives referrals of children and young adults from throughout the U.S. and around the world, offering hope and healing to children faced with disorders of the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves. Specialists in neurology, neurosurgery, neuropsychology, epileptology, neuro radiology, neuro critical care, genetics and much more, balance safety and efficacy to achieve the best possible outcomes and ensure no child needs to leave South Florida for quality pediatric care.