Scientific Education & Advisory Board
John Oró, MD, AANS Fellow, joined faculty at the University of Missouri Health Sciences Center in Columbia in 1984, where he focused on pediatric neurosurgery, skull base neurosurgery, and cerebrovascular surgery. In 1990, he became director of the Neurosurgical Residency Training Program and, in 1991, became Chief of the Division of Neurosurgery.
As Chief, Dr. Oró recruited faculty and developed neurosurgical subspecialty programs in pediatric neurosurgery, skull base surgery, and stereotactic neurosurgery. In 1998, together with Siavash Haghighi, PhD, he co-founded the Neurosurgery Research Laboratory at MU focused on neurophysiological research. He also participated in national research trials, including The North American Symptomatic Carotid Endarterectomy Trial. In 1998, he and Diane Mueller, ND, RN FNP-BC, developed The Chiari Clinic, one of the first national clinics focused on the Chiari I malformation.
Dr. Oró moved to Colorado in 2005 to become the Director of Neurosurgery at the Medical Center of Aurora (TMCA). In addition to performing cranial and spinal neurosurgery, he established the Chiari Care Center. After a “gap year” in 2016 and dedicated to fostering Colorado’s growing health innovation ecosystem in 2017, Dr. Oró returned to TMCA and established the Colorado Chiari Institute (CCI). Retiring from surgical practice in 2019, Dr. Oró remains the director of CCI and is currently mentoring neurosurgeon Dr. James Stephen in evaluation and care of persons with the Chiari I malformation.
Dr. Oró lives in Highlands Ranch, Colorado. He has four children and four grandchildren and enjoys cycling, hiking, and snowboarding.
