Dr. Pedro Coutinho is a fellowship-trained neurosurgeon specializing in spine surgery with 12+ years of practice experience.
Dr. Coutinho is originally from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where he attended the Gama Filho University School of Medicine and graduated at the age of 23, with the highest GPA in his class. He then joined the Brazilian Army, serving the Amazon Military Command as a military physician, in the Amazon Rain Forest.
Dr. Coutinho completed his neurosurgical residency at Hospital Souza Aguiar, one of the busiest level 1 trauma centers in Latin America, where he developed a special interest in complex spinal surgery and reconstruction. After completing his neurosurgical training, he moved with his family to Volta Redonda, a municipality of Rio de Janeiro, to help start the Neuro Spine Center, a private practice group.
For nearly decade, Dr. Coutinho served as the Chief Executive Officer and Spine Section Director of the Neuro Spine Center Group in Volta Redonda. In that position, he was responsible for managing the neurosurgical operations of two hospitals in the region between Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, including performing and supervising surgical interventions across all manner of vertebral pathologies, including degenerative disorders, spinal trauma, infection, and cancers, as well as for spearheading negotiations with insurance companies and other members of the hospital leadership.
To date, Dr. Coutinho has successfully performed nearly 3,500 spinal surgeries, including approximately 1,800 minimally invasive procedures. Dr. Coutinho has completed two years of clinical fellowships in two different institutions. He completed a Minimally Invasive & Complex Spine Surgery Fellowship at the University of Miami and later completed an Orthopedic Spine Surgery Fellowship at Yale School of Medicine.
Dr. Coutinho has published articles in peer-reviewed publications and has authored book chapters in the field of spine surgery. He has frequently presented lectures in national and international neurosurgical meetings and conferences. He is also a regular reviewer of World Neurosurgery Journal and The Spine Journal, and performed more than 150 manuscript reviews in the spine field.
Dr. Pedro Coutinho has experience in spinal oncology, complex trauma, robotics, advanced image guidance and minimally invasive techniques. He treats a variety of vertebral spine conditions including Chiari malformations, disk herniation, spinal stenosis, spondylolisthesis, complex deformities, fractures, spinal infection, and primary and metastatic spine tumors. However, having more than a decade of clinical experience, Dr. Coutinho believes that surgical treatment for spinal diseases should only be used as the last resort, strongly advocating in favor of the conservative management every time it is possible.
He has staff appointments with St. Vincent’s Medical Center. Dr. Coutinho is board certified by the Brazilian Neurosurgery Society/Brazilian Medical Association, and a member of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, Congress of Neurological Surgeons, North American Spine Society.