Dr Richard Parkinson

Specialist Neurosurgeon & Minimally Invasive Spine Surgeon

Dr Richard Parkinson is a Fellowship trained neuro-interventional neurosurgeon and minimally invasive and endoscopic spine surgeon. He has been performing minimally invasive and complex spinal surgery for 20+ years and has built his reputation on his conservative approach to surgery.

He is passionate about the long-term reduction of pain and improved function for patients following surgery, which he achieves through a focus on impeccable surgical skills developed over a lengthy career, as well as a focus on post-surgical rehabilitation.

Dr Parkinson is committed to ongoing training and development, as well as embracing new operative technologies that assist neurosurgeons to reduce variability when operating, which help to increase the reproducibility of surgical outcomes for patients.

Dr Richard Parkinson completed his neurosurgery training in Sydney, achieving Fellowship of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (FRACS) as a Consultant Neurosurgeon.

He was then accepted into a competitive training placement in the USA, where he undertook a sub-specialised spine surgery training fellowship at the prestigious Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago – a leading high-volume spinal surgery centre – completed under the guidance of internationally recognised luminary neurosurgeons; Professor Richard Fessler and Professor Hunt Batjer.

During his time training in the USA, Dr Parkinson was exposed to a wide range of clinical presentations and advanced technologies that are often yet to reach Australia.

Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Chicago

Areas of Expertise

Ultra-minimally invasive endoscopic spine surgery
Minimally invasive ("keyhole") spine surgery
Complex and multi-level spine surgery
Disc and nerve surgery
Adult scoliosis surgery
Spine and brain injuries (inc. concussion) in athletes and sportspeople
Physical rehabilitation from sports injuries (inc. Rugby League / Union)

“My aim is to keep developing new surgical techniques, founded in the latest scientific evidence, that improve the surgical outcomes and quality of life for my patients.”

Qualifications

Training & Fellowships

Academic Appointments

Memberships

Royal Australasian College of Surgeons
Australasian Board of Neurosurgery
Spinal Society of Australasia
Neurosurgical Society of Australasia
American Association of Neurological Surgeons
Northwestern Neurosurgery
Northwestern University McGaw Medical Centre
North American Spine Society

Registrations

Committed to Training & Development

Dr Parkinson was the first neurosurgeon in Australia to be trained in neuro-intervention, including:

He routinely performs percutaneous spinal fusion surgery and has one of the largest series of patients of any neurosurgeon in Australia.

While in the USA in 2011, Dr Parkinson assisted Professor Rick Fessler in the second-ever, direct spinal cord stem cell transplant, which was performed at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago.

In 2022, Dr Parkinson undertook training on the revolutionary NuVasive Pulse 3D spine surgery platform, which is available at St Vincent’s Private Hospital Sydney (the only location in Australia offering the platform).

The Pulse 3D platform combines a range of operating theatre technologies, such as “smart imaging” (reduced radiation) with 3D-image rendering software, robotic navigation instrument guidance arrays and integrated neuromonitoring, which when combined, enables neurosurgeons to perform spine surgery more accurately and importantly, with significantly reduced radiation exposure for the patient vs. normal spine surgery performed elsewhere.