Tae Sung Park, MD

Tae Sung (T.S.) Park, MD, the Shi Hui Huang Professor of Neurological Surgery and chief of the Division of Pediatric Neurosurgery, is considered one of the world’s preeminent pediatric neurosurgeons, known in particular for his pioneering work on selective dorsal rhizotomy (SDR), a surgical treatment for cerebral palsy spasticity.

Park is known as a thoughtful and compassionate physician. He is considered the global expert in managing cerebral palsy spasticity, in part because he has performed more than 2,000 SDR surgeries — more than any other neurosurgeon in the world — on patients from 48 states and 43 countries, and without a single case of postoperative neurological complication. The procedure, which can be performed on children and young adults, allows them to walk and move better, improving quality of life. He refined the procedure in 1991 and has conducted important research studying outcomes.

Park has developed what many consider to be one of the nation’s top three pediatric neurosurgery programs and is the founding director of one of the country’s most competitive pediatric neuro-surgery fellowships. At St. Louis Children’s Hospital, he is founding director of the Center for Cerebral Palsy Spasticity and the Brachial Plexus Center. He is the founding director of the Park-Reeves Syringomyelia Research Consortium.

In 2005, Park received the Korean Overseas Compatriots Award from the Korean Broadcasting System, considered one of Korea’s highest honors. He has been named in Best Doctors in America since 1994 and honored with the Jacob Javits Neuroscience Investigator Award from the National Institutes of Health and the Richard Winn, MD, Prize for Meritorious Research from the Society of Neurological Surgeons, the most prestigious international research award for neurosurgeons. Park received his medical degree from Yonsei University in Seoul, Korea, in 1971. He performed his neurosurgery residency at the University of Virginia and a pediatric neurosurgery fellowship at the University of Toronto.