Board Certified Neurosurgeon


Mina Foroohar, MD, FACS, is a board-certified neurosurgeon in Arlington Heights, Illinois. She is certified by the American Board of Neurological Surgery and is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons.

Dr. Foroohar has been in practice in Arlington Heights since 2001 and founded her private practice, Northwest Neurosurgery Institute, LLC, in 2006. She is affiliated with Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights, Illinois, and specializes in diagnosing and treating conditions of the central, peripheral and autonomic nervous system.

In her private practice, Dr. Foroohar treats patients with brain and spine conditions including brain and spine tumors, traumatic brain injuries and hematomas, neck and back injuries, as well as herniated discs and spinal stenosis. She also treats peripheral nerve conditions such as carpal tunnel syndrome and ulnar neuropathy.

Dr. Foroohar is skilled in advanced treatments such as CyberKnife non-invasive radiosurgery and often works in collaboration with other medical and surgical specialists.

“I perform lumbar spine, or lower back, fusion surgery in partnership with an orthopedic surgeon—something that few neurosurgeons do,” she explains. “And in treating patients with brain tumors, I work as part of a team with the patient's oncologist, radiation oncologist and neurologist.”

Dr. Foroohar was destined for a career in medicine. Her dad is an emergency medicine physician, and she grew up always knowing she wanted to be a physician. “I was very clear on that for as long as I can remember," she says.

When she was applying to colleges, Dr. Foroohar was accepted into a highly competitive and distinguished seven-year combined medical program: Northwestern University's Honors Program in Medical Education. She was accepted into medical school when she was a senior in high school.

Dr. Foroohar did three years of undergraduate school and even though she was a biology major, she liked neurosciences, and neuroanatomy in particular. She was a teaching assistant in neuroanatomy her first couple of years as a medical student.

As a third-year medical student, Dr. Foroohar's first clinical rotation was in neurosurgery and she really enjoyed it. “That's when I knew that neurosurgery was what I wanted to do. There's nothing like seeing a patient who had been in a coma walking out of the hospital," she says.

Dr. Foroohar received her medical degree from Northwestern University Medical School, where she served as a research assistant in the Department of Pathology.

She completed an internship in general surgery at Rush Presbyterian St. Luke's Medical Center, which is now Rush University Medical Center, in Chicago. Dr. Foroohar also completed her neurosurgery residency at Rush. She was the chief resident in the Department of Neurosurgery at Rush, and at Cook County Medical Center, now John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County, in Chicago.

At Rush, Dr. Foroohar was trained by an exceptional and highly talented group of neurosurgeons including: Dr. Richard W. Byrne, Dr. Walter W. Whisler and Dr. Leonard J. Cerullo.

Dr. Foroohar completed a post-doctorate research fellowship in neurosurgery at the University of Chicago and a vascular neurosurgery externship at the University of Tennessee, Memphis.

She has co-authored numerous articles in peer-reviewed medical journals, and has conducted presentations and presented posters at medical conferences across the U.S., as well as in Canada and Australia.

Dr. Foroohar also serves on the Coding & Reimbursement Committee of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons / Congress of Neurological Surgeons (AANS/CNS). She regularly serves as faculty for the AANS/CNS Coding & Reimbursement Practical Courses educating neurosurgeons, nurses, physician assistants and office staff.