DeTar Healthcare System welcomes Leon I. Gilner, M.D., F.A.A.N.S., F.A.C.S., who has recently rejoined our medical staff. His return to our community allows us to offer our patients neurosurgical services in emergency situations as well as convenient office hours for non-emergent conditions.

Dr. Gilner left our community a number of years ago to accept a position as the Chief of Neurosurgery at Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield, MA, and he returns to us from his most recent position as Staff Neurosurgeon in the Division of Tele-Neurosurgery at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

Dr. Gilner is a highly-skilled neurosurgeon with 36 years of experience. He earned his medical degree with honors from Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse New York in 1974. He completed his internship in General Surgery at the University of Miami-Jackson Memorial Hospital in 1975 and his residency in Neurosurgery at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York in 1980. He is certified by the American Board of Neurological Surgery and is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and the American Association of Neurological Surgeons. He is also a member of the North American Spine Society and the Texas Association of Neurological Surgeons.

Dr. Gilner is on the consulting staff of Krames Publications and has contributed to many of their publications including “Lumbar Microsurgery,” and “Cervical Disc Surgery” among others. Most recently he contributed to the Krames patient education manual “Vetebroplasty and Kyphoplasty.” He is also the inventor of the Cordis Intraventricular Pressure Monitoring Catheter.

While in Victoria, Dr. Gilner made a number of contributions to our community including the introduction of outpatient lumbar microdiscectomy, anterior cervical fusion, posterior cervical microforaminotomy and vertebroplasty. He also served as the Founder and Chariman of Smokefree Victoria, a grassroots organization which successfully advocated for the passage of the Victoria Smokefree Ordinance. This ordinance eliminated smoking from all restaurants, bars, and public buildings in Victoria and was passed by the electorate with the largest majority of any similar election in Texas. He was honored for his work with this organization by the American Cancer Society in 2007.

On a more personal note, Dr. Gilner is a published poet and author and twice past President of Temple B’nai Israel in Victoria.

His office is located at 605 E San Antonio St., Suite 510E. He accepts appointments with a referral. His office phone number is 361-578-1877.