Of all the fields of medicine she could have chosen, Dr. Sagun Tuli decided to focus on neurology and spine surgery, a decidedly male field. Like pioneers and entrepreneurs before her, the native of India charted a course and followed it, regardless of the challenges that surely lay ahead. Her persistence and dedication paid off. Dr. Sagun Tuli became the first and only board certified female in her field in the Harvard Medical School system, which includes 17 affiliate teaching and research facilities. An associate surgeon in neurosurgery and spine in Boston at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and Faulkner Hospital for nine years, she currently shares her skills as a physician and surgeon at the Center for Advanced Brain and Spine Surgery at MetroWest Medical Center in Natick, Massachusetts.
Dr. Tuli could have carefully guarded her position; after all, she worked hard to get there. Instead, she has acted as a physician mentor, earning recognition for her efforts from the Women Physicians Congress of the American Medical Association. She also has addressed the Women and Leadership course at the Boston College Carroll School of Management and the American Medical Women’s Association at the Boston College and Tufts University Schools of Medicine. The noted surgeon has delivered numerous gender-neutral presentations as well, in such locations as Canada, India, Nepal, Algeria, and Kenya.
Not an occupation for sissies, spine and neurosurgery takes a depth of knowledge and rock-steady hands. Managing complex spine cases caused by degenerative, traumatic, infectious, or neoplastic conditions, Dr. Sagun Tuli was the only neurosurgeon to perform complex spine surgeries for four years at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. In addition to her full-time clinical work, she conducts extensive clinical research. Dr. Tuli earned her MD and became a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada in neurosurgery at the University of Toronto, where she also fulfilled a residency in neurosurgery. She completed an MS in Epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health and a fellowship in spine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
Leadership Intellect 