Heather Jane McCrea, MD, PhD

Pediatric brain tumors, pediatric pituitary tumors, pediatric vascular conditions, moya moya, hydrocephalus, intraventricular and transsphenoidal endoscopy, tethered cord, pediatric spinal tumors, chiari malformation, craniosynostosis, pediatric head trauma/concussion

Heather J. McCrea, MD, PhD, is board certified by the American Board of Neurological Surgery and the American Board of Pediatric Neurological Surgery. She specializes in the field of pediatric neurosurgery. Her neurosurgical training was completed at New York Presbyterian-Weill Cornell and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. She then completed specialized fellowship training in pediatric neurosurgery and served as the Shillito Staff Associate at Boston Children’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School. Prior to her neurosurgical training, Dr. McCrea completed her undergraduate degree at Brown University with an ScB degree with honors in biochemistry and received her MD and PhD degrees from Yale University. Her PhD in cell biology was completed under the supervision of Dr. Pietro De Camilli, a noted cell biologist and neuroscientist and member of the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine. During her PhD, she studied a rare genetic disorder affecting the brain, eye, and kidney. Dr. McCrea serves as the Director of Pediatric Neurosurgery for Holtz/Children's Hospital/Jackson Memorial Hospital where she cares for children with problems of the brain and spinal cord. She operates on the entire range of pediatric neurosurgical conditions, but has a particular interest in pediatric brain tumors, pediatric vascular conditions including Moya Moya, hydrocephalus, Chiari malformation, and tethered cord. She also has significant expertise in the use of endoscopy to treat brain and pituitary tumors, hydrocephalus, intracranial cysts, and craniosynostosis. As part of a multidisciplinary team, Dr. McCrea also sees pediatric patients in the Comprehensive Spina Bifida program at Holtz Children’s Hospital, which addresses everything from neurosurgical and urological treatment to dietary and orthopedic care in one centralized location. In addition to her clinical practice, Dr. McCrea is an accomplished researcher with significant basic and translational science contributions, and she has presented her research both nationally and internationally. While in neurosurgical residency at New York Presbyterian-Weill Cornell she received a prestigious Neurosurgery Research and Education Foundation (NREF) research fellowship grant to support her research on the role of the vasculature in supporting brain tumor growth. Her current research focuses on understanding and developing new treatments for pediatric brain tumors, drug delivery across the blood brain barrier, intra-arterial chemotherapy for high-grade glioma and diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), and concussion/traumatic brain injury.