Howard A. Riina is Professor and Vice Chair of the Department of Neurosurgery as well as Director of the Neurosurgery Residency Training Program and Director of Endovascular Neurosurgery at New York University Langone Medical Center. He was born in Brooklyn, New York. He received undergraduate degrees from both Franklin and Marshall College and the University of Pennsylvania in a dual degree 5-year bioengineering program in 1987. He graduated from Temple University School of Medicine in 1993. Between his third and forth years of medical school he obtained an M.Phil in Biology (molecular neurobiology) from the University of Cambridge. He completed his surgical internship and trained in neurological surgery at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania with Drs. Eugene S. Flamm and M. Sean Grady. Dr.Riina has completed three fellowships: Diagnostic Neuroradiology with Robert Grossman, M.D. at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Interventional Neuroradiology with Alejandro Berenstein, M.D., at the Institute of Neurology and Neurosurgery Beth Israel Medical Center, and Cerebrovascular and Skull Base Surgery with Robert F. Spetzler, M.D. at the Barrow Neurological Institute.

Dr. Riina specializes in the surgical and endovascular treatment of cerebrovascular disorders of the brain and spinal cord. He has particular interest in the treatment of intracranial aneurysms and arteriovenous malformations of the brain and spinal cord. He has also been involved in new treatments for acute stroke. Most recent interests involve the development of new minimally invasive devices and treatments for cerebrovascular and skull base disorders as well as intra-arterial chemotherapy for recurrent malignant brain tumors.