Shekar N. Kurpad, MD, PhD

Shekar N. Kurpad, MD, PhD, is a nationally-recognized physician scientist. As the seventh President and Chief Executive Officer of the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW), Dr. Kurpad leads one of the nation’s top-performing academic medical centers and third-largest private medical school, with an operating budget of more than $1.8 billion and nearly 7,500 faculty and staff, and 1,800 medical, pharmacy and graduate students.

Before assuming his current role at MCW in July 2026, Dr. Kurpad most recently served as Professor of Neurosurgery and Senior Associate Dean, Neuroscience, in the MCW School of Medicine, and Founding Director of the Wisconsin Institute of NeuroScience (WINS).

Dr. Kurpad’s philosophy is rooted in the principle of “leading from the front” – a practice of actively participating in daily endeavors that reflect his commitment to collaboration, curiosity, innovation, thoughtfulness, efficiency, authenticity and life-long learning.

A long-time Wisconsin resident, Dr. Kurpad enjoys the outdoors and is passionate about learning and serving the community. He takes great pride in being a dad and believes work should be fun, fulfilling, and inspire us all to remain curious.

His contributions to clinical care, research and teaching include nearly 15,000 surgical procedures and more than 150 original research manuscripts that have shaped contemporary spinal cord science and care. Dr. Kurpad is a fellow of multiple national neurosurgical organizations and an invited examiner for the American Board of Neurological Surgery.

Dr. Kurpad was the Sanford J. Larson Professor and Chair of the Department of Neurosurgery at MCW (2017-2024) and as Chief of Neurosurgery at the Zablocki VA Medical Center for more than a decade. His additional roles at MCW included Co-Director, Center for Neurotrauma Research (2018-2022), Interim and Acting Chair, Department of Neurosurgery (2015-2017) and Chief, Neurosurgical Service, Zablocki VA Medical Center (2002-2015).

Dr. Kurpad received his Doctor of Medicine degree in 1991 from Bangalore Medical College (Bangalore, India) and his Doctor of Philosophy in 1995 from Duke University. From 1995-1996, he was an intern in general surgery at the University Hospitals of Cleveland/Case Western Reserve University and was a resident in neurosurgery from 1996-2001. Dr. Kurpad completed three fellowships (skull base neurosurgery; neuro-oncology; and spinal neurosurgery) and was a postdoctoral fellow in stem cell biology at the Karolinska Institute (Stockholm, Sweden).