Weill Cornell Medicine provides a highly competitive, demanding environment for neurosurgery residents. Our seven-year program produces some of the top neurosurgeons in the country. About the Program
Nalini Tata, MD, MPP
Full Bio
Dr. Nalini Tata received her medical degree from Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, where she was elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha medical student honor society, with a concurrent Master of Public Policy (MPP) degree from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Dr. Tata received her undergraduate degree in neurobiology from Brown University, then earned a Master of Philosophy degree from the University of Cambridge in England before enrolling in medical school. As a student researcher with Dr. Rees Cosgrove at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, she helped study asleep DBS practices and outcomes. She has also written about ethics and philosophy of neurosurgical practice during and beyond the time of the Covid-19 pandemic with Dr. Nader Dahdaleh at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
Umberto Tosi, MD
- Dr. Umberto Tosi Named NYP/Weill Cornell Graduate Staff of the Month
- New Study Shows Brain Surgery for Colloid Cysts is Cognitively Safe
- Dr. Tosi Wins Second Place at NY Society of Neurosurgery's Resident Research Night
- Dr. Tosi Presents Award-Winning Abstract at CNS 2024
- Dr. Tosi Wins 2024 Apuzzo Award
- Thank a Resident Day 2023
- Covid on the Cover of World Neurosurgery
- Two Papers Show Disparities in Neurosurgical Research and Outcomes
- Match Day 2020: Weill Cornell Medicine Neurological Surgery Welcomes Newest Residents
Full Bio
Umberto Tosi received his medical degree with Honors in Research from Weill Cornell Medical College in 2020. As a medical student, Dr. Tosi worked in the laboratory of Dr. Mark Souweidane of the Children's Brain Tumor Project, investigating novel drug delivery technologies in treating pediatric gliomas. During his tenure as a medical student he was awarded an Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation POST Grant and the Rudin Pediatric Neuro-oncology Fellowship; upon graduation he won the Harold G. Wolff Research Prize for his work.
As a resident, Umberto has further developed his interest in neurosurgical oncology. He focused his attention to both skull base surgical approaches, under the mentorships of Dr. Souweidane, Schwartz, and Ramakrishna, and tumor biology and development of novel therapeutics, under the mentorship of Dr. Tabar, at Memorial Sloan Kettering.
Dr. Tosi grew up in Italy, then earned his bachelor’s degree summa cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania, double majoring in Biological Basis of Behavior and Chemistry. He was inducted in Phi Beta Kappa in 2015. He completed his Honors Thesis under the supervision of Dr. Jeannie Chin at Jefferson University, investigating the role of early epileptiform activity in the development of epigenetic dysregulation in Alzheimer’s Disease models. In addition to publishing his research with numerous members of the department, Dr. Tosi has mentored medical students in a variety of subjects.
Marcus Valcarce-Aspegren, MD
Full Bio
Dr. Valcarce-Aspegren received his MD in 2023 from Yale School of Medicine, where he was awarded two consecutive yearlong research fellowships to conduct epilepsy research in the laboratory of Dr. Hal Blumenfeld. Receiving both the Richard K. Gershon, MD, Medical Student Research Fellowship and the James G. Hirsch, MD, Endowed Medical Student Research Award allowed Dr. Valcarce-Aspegren to spend two years using an awake mouse model of focal limbic seizures that he had helped develop. During the two years of research, Dr. Valcarce-Aspegren used this new animal model to perform the first awake electrophysiology recordings in the locus coeruleus during focal limbic seizures.
As a Yale medical student, Dr. Valcarce-Aspegren also participated in the HAVEN free clinic, serving an uninsured population and mentoring junior medical students. Dr. Valcarce-Aspegren received his bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he completed an honors thesis on Medieval Medicine on the Camino de Santiago.
Graham Winston, MD
Full Bio
Dr. Graham Winston received his medical degree from Weill Cornell Medical College in 2020 with Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA) honors distinction. Dr. Winston works in the laboratory of Dr. Michael Kaplitt investigating use of MR-guided focused ultrasound to deliver gene therapy for neurodegenerative diseases and neuro-oncology. He has also worked on research in the fields of cerebrovascular surgery, spine surgery, and functional neurosurgery as well as on numerous projects pertaining to medical student education. As a medical student, Dr. Winston also helped spearhead the national Medical Student Neurosurgery Training Camps.
Dr. Winston earned his undergraduate degree from Northwestern University, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa and was awarded Honors in Biology for his structural biology research of HDAC-recruiting co-repressor complexes under Dr. Ishwar Radhakrishnan. Outside of his academic interests, Graham is a runner and an avid New York sports fan, and he practices both yoga and meditation.