AS FOUNDER and chief of clinical services of Neurography Institute, Dr. Aaron Filler has led the way in nerve-tissue imaging and medical treatment innovation for more than a decade.

Drawing on his research at the University of London in the 1990s, Dr. Filler made breakthroughs in using magnetic resonance imaging systems in completely revolutionary ways, through a combination of software imaging techniques and expertise in reading the scans.

As a neurosurgeon, Dr. Filler was driven to use technology to provide medical professionals with viewable images of nerve structures in the human body. His research into how protons behave in differing types of water in the human body resulted in two United States patents for what he would term "neurography," or the imaging of nerves. It is this patent portfolio and the resultant exclusive imaging technique and refinement process on which Neurography Institute is built.

Today thousands of patients worldwide have benefitted directly from Dr. Filler's technological innovations, living healthier, fuller lives separated from the pain they once knew. Neurography Institute's mission mirrors that of Dr. Filler's professional goal: to help patients achieve a pain-free lifestyle wherever possible, using a balanced combination of the most advanced technologies and direct, personal involvement.

General Background

Dr. Aaron Filler is the world’s leading expert in treatment of nerve pain. He has revolutionized nerve-pain treatment by inventing several new technologies, including, MR neurography, which enables doctors to use an MRI scanner to examine nerves — previously a difficult-to-impossible tissue to see through MR imaging. Dr. Filler's research in axonal transport is leading to a whole new generation of advanced pain medications. He has developed many new “minimal access” surgery methods that allow him to treat complex nerve problems with small outpatient surgeries. He has also pioneered the use of the Open MRI scanner to do surgeries and other therapies with the ultra-high precision and safety of the magnetic resonance imaging.

Dr. Filler has an MD from the University of Chicago, a PhD from Harvard University, and is also a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in England. His medical training included four years of medical school, eight years of neurosurgical training at one of the leading neurosurgery programs in the US, an additional one-year fellowship in neuroimaging at the University of London, another year of training in complex spinal surgery at UCLA and a fellowship in peripheral nerve surgery with Dr. David Kline in New Orleans. He is the inventor on ten major patents, has published more than twenty prominent scientific publications, and has done more than a hundred presentations at scientific and medical meetings. He is also the author of Do You Really Need Back Surgery? from Oxford University Press, a well-received 300-page book for the general public. He is on the medical staff at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

Click here for a selection of Dr. Filler's published works in the field of MR neurography.

Click here for a selection of Dr. Filler's patents in the field of MR neurography.

Medical and Board Certifications

American Board of Neurological Surgeons
ABNS Cert. #99073
11/17/99 to 12/31/2009
Diplomate 1999

Intercollegiate Board in Surgical Neurology
Royal Colleges of Surgeons of Edinburgh, Glasgow, England, and Ireland
FRCS {SN}
Diplomate 1994

Neurological Surgery Residency Training
Department of Neurological Surgery
University of Washington, Seattle, WA
Diplomate 1994

National Board of Medical Examiners of U.S.A.
NBME # 241994
Diplomate 1987