David L. Penn, MD

Dr. David L. Penn was born and raised in Mount Kisco, NY. He did his undergraduate training at Duke University. While in high school and college, he did research on cerebrovascular disease at NY Presbyterian-Columbia and Duke University which is where he first became interested in neurosurgery. After college, he returned home to complete a graduate degree in Physiology at New York Medical college and then went on to medical school at Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University. He completed his residency training at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School. During this time, he completed a fellowship subspecializing in minimally-invasive, endoscopic treatments for pituitary tumors and other types of brain tumors. Following residency, Dr. Penn completed a fellowship in skull base neurosurgery and cerebrovascular neurosurgery, adding further expertise for treating complex brain tumors, such as acoustic neuromas and meningiomas, vascular malformations, such as aneurysms and AVMs, and cerebral bypass.

Why should someone choose you to care for their health?
Our team will offer a variety of techniques for treating complex brain lesions. Some lesions can be managed with smaller operations and others require larger operations. I specialize in minimally invasive and open treatments for the most complex brain tumors. Treatments are specialized for the specific type of tumor, location, and, most importantly, the patient. For cerebrovascular lesions, I specialize in open surgery and work closely with a team specializing in minimally invasive techniques. 

What is the most important thing your patients should expect from their professional relationship with you? What do you expect from them?
I understand that I am helping people through what can be the scariest and most stressful time of their lives – brain surgery. I consider myself to be extremely empathetic to this situation and patients will get a physician who will do their best to treat their specific problem, in their specific situation, but also someone who will help support them through their treatment emotionally. I hope my patients will have the same motivation to get better that I have for them.

How do you spend your valuable personal time when you’re not caring for patients?
My wife and I – and now two children - are originally from Dutchess and Westchester Counties and are returning to be close to home. We spend a lot of time with our family to make up for the lost time while we have been training in other parts of the country. I enjoy playing guitar and being outside, grilling, fishing or running.

Why did you choose your specialty and what is its greatest reward?
I have had personal experiences with ruptured aneurysms and subarachnoid hemorrhage. Learning about the devastation the disease can cause motivated me to become the type of physician able to treat the disease and help people through recovery, similar to the surgeon role models I was surrounded by early in life. The greatest reward is being able to see patients come in with this devastating disease and walk out of the hospital and return to a normal life.