Dr. Jaime H. Nieto, MD, FACS

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Get to know Neurosurgeon Dr. Jaime H. Nieto, who serves patients in the State of New York. 

Dr. Nieto is a board-certified neurosurgeon specializing in spine conditions. His areas of interest include spinal tumors, hydrocephalus, degenerative spine disease, spinal stenosis, complex spinal surgery, and Chiari malformation.

He provides his services at the Weill Cornell Medicine Brain and Spine Center in New York City, New York. A leader in high-tech computerized diagnostic and treatment methods, the Weill Cornell Brain and Spine Center receives patients from around the world. The specialists working there treat the full spectrum of neurological disease, from brain and spine tumors, stroke, aneurysms, and epilepsy, to Parkinson’s disease, and other movement disorders. 

Professionally, Dr. Nieto also serves as a Clinical Assistant Professor of Neurological Surgery at Weill Cornell Medicine and as the Chief of the Section of Neurologic Surgery and Spine Surgery in the Department of Surgery at NewYork Presbyterian Medical Group Queens in Jackson Heights and Flushing, New York. 

As a boy growing up in the Andean town of Chiquinquirá, Colombia, he most wanted to emulate the local doctor, the only one for 40,000 residents. When he did finally make his way to the United States on a student visa at age 19, he spoke little English. He drove trucks and did construction work to put himself through college. For a time, it didn’t seem like he’d ever get the support or the money he needed to go to medical school.

Dr. Nieto’s big break came in 1991 from a free, state-funded post-baccalaureate program. Run by Associated Medical Schools of New York, the program encourages minorities to attend medical school and guarantees admission. “If I didn’t have this opportunity, I probably wouldn’t be a doctor today—which means I would not have been able to touch over 5,000 people’s lives.” he stated. 

He earned his medical degree from the State University of New York Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, New York. He then went on to complete his residency in neurosurgery at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine, followed by his advanced fellowship training at the Cleveland Clinic. 

Thereafter, the doctor attained board certification through the American Board of Neurological Surgery, one of the 24 certifying boards of the American Board of Medical Specialties. He also attained fellowship status with the American College of Surgeons (FACS).

Neurosurgery is the medical specialty concerned with the prevention, diagnosis, surgical treatment, and rehabilitation of disorders which affect any portion of the nervous system including the brain, spinal cord, peripheral nerves, and extra-cranial cerebrovascular system. Neurosurgeons are doctors who diagnose and treat problems with the nervous system, often by performing surgery on the brain or spine. They treat strokes, tumors, certain types of birth defects, infections, and head, or spinal cord injuries.

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