Mark Luciano

Dr. MARK LUCIANO is the director of the Johns Hopkins Cerebral Fluid Center. A renowned leader in treating hydrocephalus, Dr. Luciano is distinguished both nationally and internationally for his research and educational and clinical work in CSF disorders, neuroendoscopy and Chiari Malformation. He has organized international practical courses in the United States, China and India and trained multiple U.S. and international neurosurgical fellows in Pediatric Neurosurgery and CSF Disorders. He has also trained PhD-candidate fellows from the U.S., Europe and Egypt.

Dr. Luciano was the head of Pediatric Neurosurgery at the Cleveland Clinic where he organized and co-directed Pediatric Neuroscience. Dr. Luciano treats adults and children with hydrocephalus, pseudotumor cerebri, intracranial hypotension, Chiari malformations, and cerebral and spinal cysts. He also has significant expertise treating children and adults with cerebrospinal fluid leaks and congenital disorders. Starting in Cleveland and continuing at Johns Hopkins, Dr. Luciano has focused on bringing together these multiple cerebral spinal fluid disorders into a single sub-specialty, both clinically and academically.

Dr. Luciano’s National Institutes of Health-funded research has explored prolonged compression and hypoxia in the brain as a result of hydrocephalus, as well as the interaction between cerebrospinal fluid and vascular systems. Among his accomplishments in neuroscience research and biomedical engineering are his investigation of the cerebrovascular response to hydrocephalus and the invention of a unique device for control of intracranial pressure (ICP) pulsatility for CSF clearance, drug delivery, and increased blood flow.

Dr. Luciano obtained his medical degree from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine and a PhD in Molecular Endocrinology and Anatomy from Tulane University. He completed his residency training at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Neurosurgery along with fellowships in Bethesda at The National Institutes of Health Neurological Surgery Branch in research and at Boston Children’s Hospital in Pediatric Neurosurgery. Dr. Luciano served the role of Section Editor for Hydrocephalus and CSF Disorders for World Neurosurgery, and was the Medical Advisory Board Chairman for the Chiari and Syringomyelia Foundation. He is a co-founder of the Adult Hydrocephalus Clinical Research Network; a member of the International Hydrocephalus Research Society; and a Medical Advisory Board member for the Hydrocephalus Association.