Bernard R. Bendok attended Wayne State University from 1987 to 1991 as a Merit Scholar and during his junior year he served as president of the premedical club. He graduated from the Honors Program Summa Cum Laude with a BS in Biology. In 1991 he moved to Chicago and attended Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. His interest in neurosurgery was nurtured by mentorship from Drs. David Mclone and Ivan Ciric.
In 1995 he entered Northwestern’s residency training program during the same year that Dr. Hunt Batjer became chair of that program. During residency he developed an interest in Neurovascular and cranial base diseases under Hunt’s mentorship. He subsequently pursued fellowship training with L Nelson Hopkins. In 2003, he joined Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of medicine as an assistant Professor. In 2009 he was promoted to Associate professor and to Professor in 2013. His clinical practice has focused on the microsurgical interventional and radiosurgical treatment of neurovascular and cranial base diseases. He served as the director of the multidisciplinary Vascular Neurosurgery and Neurointerventional Surgery Programs at Northwestern and surgical director of the Neurological ICU until December of 2014. In 2015 he was appointed William J. And Charles H. Mayo Professor and Chair of the Department of Neurological Surgery at Mayo Clinic in Phoenix.
Bernard’s research has focused on clinical trials, advanced MRI imaging, quality of life measures and simulation with the goal of enhancing outcomes, personalized health care, and health care delivery for neurovascular and cranial base diseases with a particular focus on aneurysms, arteriovenous malformations, Moya Moya disease and cranial base tumors.
In the area of education Dr. Bendok has focused on innovations in online education and simulation based training through his work with the Joint Cerebrovascular Section and the Congress of Neurological Surgeons. In 2012 he was elected as Member at Large for both the Joint Cerebrovascular Section of the AANS and CNS and the Congress of Neurological Surgeons Executive Committees. In 2014 he was appointed as Chair of the Education Division of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons.
Dr. Bendok is a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society. He has received the Patient’s Choice and Compassionate Doctor Recognition Awards from Vitals.com.
Dr. Bendok enjoys outdoor activities and travel with family and friends. His greatest debt is to his exceptional parents and his greatest joy and inspiration are his wife Karen, his son Michael and daughter Sarah.
