Meet Dr. Shannon Clark with Sentara Neurosurgery Specialists
Dr. Shannon Clark is a board-certified neurosurgeon who has been practicing with Sentara since 2017. She performs the full spectrum of brain and spine surgeries and has advanced expertise in functional neurosurgery, including MRI guided focused ultrasound, deep brain stimulator (DBS) surgery, laser interstitial thermal therapy (LITT/“laser brain surgery”), spinal cord stimulator implantation, epilepsy surgery and a variety of nerve ablation procedures. She is the only female neurosurgeon in the Hampton Roads area and one of only two functional neurosurgeons serving the region.
From a young age, Dr. Clark felt called to medicine. She grew up in China and Japan before moving to the United States at age 19 to pursue higher education. She graduated magna cum laude from the University of Florida with a double major in biomaterials engineering and pre-medicine. She then attended the University of South Florida for medical school, where she discovered her passion for neurosurgery.
Dr. Clark completed seven years of neurosurgical residency at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia. During her dedicated research year, she completed the prestigious Sugita Microsurgical Fellowship at Nagoya University in Japan, where she refined her cranial microsurgical skills. Throughout residency, she also gained extensive training in functional neurosurgery, including DBS for Parkinson’s disease, spinal cord stimulation for chronic pain and robotic epilepsy surgery.
Since joining Sentara in 2017, Dr. Clark has focused on restoring neurological function and improving quality of life for patients with chronic neurological disorders. She performs a wide range of functional procedures, including deep brain stimulation (DBS), MRI-guided focused ultrasound (FUS), neuromodulation for pain and advanced epilepsy surgeries. In addition to her functional practice, she performs spinal decompression and fusion procedures as well as complex brain tumor surgeries. She believes strongly in conservative management and treats all patients with the same care and consideration she would offer a family member—prioritizing minimally invasive therapies when appropriate.
Dr. Clark is also the only physician at Sentara with expertise in both deep brain stimulator implantation and MRI-guided focused ultrasound, procedures that help treat Parkinson’s disease symptoms and essential tremor. For DBS, she implants an electrode into targeted deep brain nuclei and connects it to a specialized battery that delivers controlled electrical stimulation to reduce tremor, stiffness and medication burden.
She also performs cervical and thoracic spinal cord stimulator implantation for complex regional pain syndrome and failed back surgery syndrome.
Dr. Clark remains an active educator and advocate for diversity in neurosurgery. As the only female neurosurgeon in Hampton Roads, she is committed to mentoring trainees and advancing representation in the field. She has taught at national neuromodulation conferences and participates in Women in Neurosurgery initiatives.