Robert G. Louis Jr, MD

Dr. Robert Louis specializes in minimally invasive brain tumor surgery, skull base surgery, neuroendoscopy, microneurosurgery and pituitary surgery. He has particular expertise in endoscopic and minimally invasive treatment of benign and malignant brain tumors, sellar and parasellar tumors and skull base tumors.

Through the use of cutting-edge neuroimaging and neuro-navigational equipment, he utilizes the concept of keyhole neurosurgery, minimizing the damage to surrounding brain, vascular and soft tissue structures. Dr. Louis believes that most brain and skull base tumors can be resected through small openings or by utilizing naturally occurring orifices. This approach has been demonstrated to decrease post-operative pain, minimize neurologic complications and shorten length of hospitalization, resulting in better outcomes for his patients.

Robert G. Louis Jr., M.D., was awarded his medical degree as Valedictorian in 2007. He served his general surgery internship at the University of Virginia School of Medicine at Charlottesville, Virginia (2007-2008) and conducted his neurosurgery residency (2008-2012) and chief residency (2012-2013) at the University of Virginia School of Medicine at Charlottesville, Virginia, where he focused on skull base and pituitary surgery. In addition, Dr. Louis is fellowship trained in minimally invasive neurosurgery at John Wayne Cancer Institute at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, California (2013-2014), which makes him one of only a handful of fellowship-trained minimally invasive neurosurgeons in the nation and the only one in Orange County, Southern California, with this distinction. Dr. Louis further received board certification in neurosurgery from the American Board of Neurosurgery.

Since 2015, Dr Louis has been involved with the development and implementation of Virtual and Augmented Reality technologies for pre-operative simulation and rehearsal and intraoperative navigation. The 3-D VR/AR platform is provided by Surgical Theater and was developed based on flight simulator technology from F-16 fighter jets. This technology allows the surgeons to rehearse complicated operations in virtual reality; affording them the opportunity to visualize critical anatomy and navigate potential pitfalls. Dr. Louis has given multiple presentations, talks, and demonstrations on the use of extended reality (XR) in healthcare speaking on the utilization of augmented reality to make surgery for brain, skull base and pituitary tumors safer and more effective. Dr. Louis is passionate about and advocates for the implementation of virtual reality throughout the patient care continuum from preoperative planning and patient engagement, to intraoperative augmented reality through postoperative physical therapy and pain management.