Keith L. Black, M.D., is a founder and Co-Chairman of Fortem. He also is the Chair and Professor of Cedars-Sinai Department of Neurosurgery, the Ruth and Lawrence Harvey Chair in Neuroscience.

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He is among an elite group of neurosurgeons in the world who have performed more than 8,000 brain tumor operations. The precision of his surgical skill enables him to remove tumors that often have been considered inoperable.

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Prior to joining Cedars-Sinai, he was professor of surgery and neurology at UCLA Medical Center where he was the Ruth and Raymond Stotter Chair. At Cedars-Sinai, Black has assembled world-class surgical, research and translational clinical teams to study disorders that can occur within the brain – and to devise never-imagined ways to treat and prevent these neurological disorders .

 

Black’s team was the first to use a dendritic cell vaccine in human trials for brain cancer. He is also recognized as an expert in the blood-brain barrier, making discoveries that have dramatically increased the ability of medications to cross the blood-brain. To recognize Black’s years of groundbreaking research into the blood-brain barrier – and to recognize research likely to have a high impact on science – the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), a branch of the National Institutes of Health, presented its prestigious Javits Neuroscience Investigator Award to Black. The award is given to neuroscientists who “must have demonstrated exceptional scientific excellence and productivity in one of the areas of neurological research supported by the NINDS.” He is author of more than 35 patents for his novel scientific innovations. 

 

Black has published more than 400 scientific articles and chapters and has presented his findings at over 500 national and international meetings including invited talks at TEDMED and Google’s “Solve for X” lecture series. His has spoken at The Festival of Thinkers (bring together over 60 Nobel Laureates), and Education Without Borders in the U.A.E. His work has been the subject of numerous broadcast and print media stories, including a 1996 PBS program, “The New Explorers,” and a feature on his research opening the blood-brain barrier titled, “Outsmarting the Brain. He was on the cover of Time Magazine in a feature on heroes in medicine. His work has been featured on segments on CBS Sunday Morning, CNN and many other broadcasts. He was included on the cover of a special “new millennium” report in Newsweek Japan, and identified as one of the 100 people of “imagination, talent and leadership who will bring changes to the new era.” 

 

Biography magazine included an article on Black, as did Discover, a collector’s edition of Essence (“40 of the Most Inspiring African-Americans”), and Los Angeles magazine.  He graced the covers of Black Enterprise Magazine’s “America’s Leading Doctor” and many other media publications.

 

 

Throughout his career, Black – who has been listed in America’s Top Doctors, America’s Top Doctors in Cancer, and the Best Doctors in America– has served in key positions on numerous professional committees and organizations, including the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, the Neurosurgical Society of America, the Academy of Neurological Surgery, and the North American Skull Base Society.

 

In 1994, he served on the Board of Scientific Counselors for the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Strokes, one of several NIH positions he has held. He also has served as director of the Los Angeles World Affairs Council and was a member of the Independent Citizens Oversight Committee (ICOC) California Institute for Regenerative Medicine.  He sits on the Presidential Advisory Group at the University of Michigan and was appointed by the Governor as member of the State of California’s Alzheimer’s Prevention and Preparedness Task Force in 2019.