Neurosurgeon

He applies this vast knowledge in his day-to-day work with our patients at the Pinheiro Franco Clinic.

• He has been a full member of the Brazilian Society of Neurosurgery for 18 years.
• Specialist in neurosurgery.
• Treats diseases of the spine. 
• Neurosurgeon with 4 years' experience in France and Germany.
• Numerous congresses, courses, specializations abroad.
• Thousands of patients treated/operated on over two decades.
• Certified in minimally invasive spinal surgery and procedures (USA/France/Germany/The Netherlands/South Korea) for 17 years.
• Trained for 17 years in artificial disc surgery (France/Germany)
• Neurosurgeon appointed by the French Consulate in São Paulo
• Author of the book “Advanced Concepts in Lumbar Disc Degenerative Disease”, published in Brazil in 2010.
• Author of the book “Advanced Concepts in Lumbar Degenerative Disc Disease”, published in Heidelberg, Germany, 2016.
• Author of the book “Sagittal Balance of the Spine. A Key for Treatment Strategy”, published in New York, USA, 2019.
• Member of the Spine Commission of the World Federation of Neurosurgery (WFNS) (2014-2019)
• Elected member of the centenary São Paulo Academy of Medicine
• He has worked for 5 scientific journals and has been controlling the quality of what is published on spinal pain treatment for 12 years:
• Member of the Editorial Board of the SPINE Journal (Phila-Pa 1976) (USA)
• Member of the Editorial Board of the Clinical Spine Surgery Journal (USA)
• Member of the Editorial Board of the WORLD NEUROSURGERY Journal (USA)
• Member of the Editorial Board of the NASS JOURNAL (USA)
• Member of the Editorial Board of the EUROPEAN SPINE JOURNAL (Germany/Switzerland)
• Member of the North American Spine Society
• Member of the European Spine Society
• Member of the French Society of Neurosurgery
• Member of the Brazilian Spine Society
• Member of the Brazilian Academy of Neurosurgery
• Member of the Spine Department of the Brazilian Society of Neurosurgery
• Member of the Board of the Brazilian Spine Society (2017-2018)
• Director of the Brazilian Society of Neurosurgery's online Borderless Education NeuroWebinar Project (2017-2018)
• International Correspondent Doctor for the French Red Cross (Croix Rouge Française) - CMC Massues, Lyon.

Graduation

Medical degree from UNIFESP (Federal University of São Paulo - Paulista School of Medicine) - 1991-1996;

• Medical Residency in Neurosurgery at the Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná in Curitiba.
• Neurosurgeon by the Brazilian Society of Neurosurgery and the MEC, having passed all the tests of the Brazilian Society of Neurosurgery.
• 2003 to 2005 - Fellowship in Neurosurgery in France (University of Strasbourg);
• 2005 to 2007 - Fellowship in Neurosurgery in Germany (University of Tübingen);
• Director of Clínica Pinheiro Franco, a neurosurgery and spinal pain treatment clinic accredited by FLANC (Latin American Federation of Neurosurgery).
• He works as a consultant for 5 international spine journals in Europe and the United States.
• Since 2008 he has been a member of the Editorial Board of the world's classic and most prestigious scientific journal on spinal advances: North American Spine Journal (Phila PA 1976).
• Since 2008 he has been a member of the editorial board of the official journal of the European Spine Society: the European Spine Journal.
• Since 2014 he has been a member of the Editorial Board of Clinical Spine Surgery, formerly the Journal of Spinal Disorders and Techniques (another scientific classic in spine).
• Editor in charge of the Column section of the scientific journal WORLD NEUROSURGERY between 2014 and 2018.
• Since 2020 he has been a member of the Editorial Board of the journal of the North American Spine Society: the NASS Journal.
• For these European and North American journals, Dr. João does what can be called quality control of treatments for back pain, sciatica, neck pain, among others. He has to assess the scientific quality of the various articles specializing in the spine that are submitted for publication from around the world. In this way, we can understand the value of Dr. João Luiz Pinheiro Franco's opinion in determining the correct treatment for his patients.

Published the book “Advanced Concepts in Lumbar Disc Degenerative Disease” on Spine in Brazil

• Author of the first book in Portuguese about the lumbar intervertebral disc, lumbar discopathy, and its frequent direct consequence, which is lumbago, back pain.
• Published a book on the spine in Germany

In 2016, it was released by Dr. Pinheiro Franco (Brazil), Dr. Alexander Vaccaro (USA-Philadelphia), Dr. Edward Benzel (USA-Cleveland). Dr. Michael Mayer (Munich, Germany), the largest book ever written on intervertebral disc degeneration, low back pain, discopathy, its causes and its many innovative treatments. The nearly 900-page book “Advanced Concepts in Lumbar Degenerative Disk Disease” on the lumbar spine is a bestseller from German publisher SPRINGER. Surgeons from all over the world learn from Dr. Pinheiro Franco's knowledge.

• He published a book on the spine in the United States (New York).

In 2019, a book was launched by Dr. Pinheiro Franco (Brazil), Dr. Pierre Roussouly (France), Dr. Hubert Labelle (Canada), Dr. Martin Gehrchen (Denmark) that explains what lateral balance of the spine is, the most talked about subject at spine congresses in the last decade: “Sagittal Balance of the Spine. A Key for Treatment Strategy”. Understand that today, by studying the morphology of the spine-pelvis complex, we can, in a way, predict the degenerative evolution of this spine. In other words, by knowing the radiological anatomy of someone's spine, you can, in a way, predict what will happen to that spine, how it will age. Come and talk to the author of the book, Dr. Pinheiro Franco, and get a better understanding of the subject.