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Robert E. Harbaugh, MD

Professor of Neurosurgery and Senior Vice- President, Penn State Health
Penn State Health
Hummelstown, Pennsylvania, United States

Robert E. Harbaugh, MD, FAANS, FACS, FAHA

Robert E. Harbaugh, MD, FAANS, FACS, FAHA, Distinguished Professor of Neurosurgery and Seenior Vice-President of the Academic Practices at PennState Health obtained his M.D. from the Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine and his neurosurgery training at Dartmouth. In 2003 Dr. Harbaugh accepted the position of Professor and Chair of the Penn State Department of Neurosurgery, becoming the first graduate of the Penn State College of Medicine to return as a department chair. He also has an appointment as Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics at the Pennsylvania State University.
In addition to a busy neurosurgical practice, Dr. Harbaugh has served as the editor for seven books, has published more than 450 articles, book chapters and abstracts and has been an invited speaker at more than 275 symposia throughout the world. He has served on five editorial boards, has obtained research funding from the NIH, NATO, USDA, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, industry, foundations and other organizations since 1985 and has started three business ventures. Dr. Harbaugh has been a visiting professor at 75 academic institutions, the honored guest of neurosurgical societies in Bulgaria, Canada, China, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, India, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Spain and Taiwan and has delivered 31 named lectures.
Dr. Harbaugh has held numerous leadership positions in national organizations. He has been a President of the Society of Neurological Surgeons and President of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, Director of the American Board of Neurological Surgery, Chairman of the Board of neurosurgery’s quality improvement and data management company, the Neuropoint Alliance, Inc., Vice-President of the American Academy of Neurological Surgery, a member of the Steering Committee of the National Academy of Medicine’s Action Collaborative on Clinician Well-Being and Resilience, Co-Chair of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s Registry of Patient Registries project, a member of the National Football League’s Head, Neck and Spine Committee, a member of the Strategic Vision Committee of the Federal Interagency Traumatic Brain Injury Registry (FITBIR) and a member of the Governance Council for the Food and Drug Administration’s coordinated registry network for Devices used for Acute Ischemic Stroke Intervention (DAISI) project.
Dr. Harbaugh presently serves as a member of the advisory council of the American Board of Neurological Surgery, as Chair of the Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education’s Review Committee for Neurosurgery and as a member of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke’s Board of Scientific Counselors. He received the AANS’ Distinguished Service Award in 2018 and the Cushing Medal in 2021.
Dr. Harbaugh serves on the Board of Trustees of Lebanon Valley College and has also served on the Board of Directors of the Penn State Hershey Medical Center and the Saint Joan of Arc School and as a member of the Penn State Campaign Council. He has five children and is married to Kimberly S. Harbaugh, M.D., a neurosurgeon specializing in peripheral nerve surgery.


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