Anthony “Tony” Asher, MD, has been named president of the Prisma Health Neurosciences Institute. Asher is a practicing neurosurgeon who is internationally recognized as a preeminent neuroscientist.
“We are delighted to welcome Dr. Asher, who will lead the next evolution of our neurosciences services, where we will continue to move the institution toward national and international prominence,” Jason Marx, MD, Prisma Health Medical Group president, said. “As president, he will collaborate with stakeholders across Prisma Health and the University of South Carolina Schools of Medicine to develop a visionary model for the future of neurosciences care and research.”
Prisma Health includes one of the largest neurosciences programs in the southeastern United States, with more than 300 physicians and advanced practice clinicians, supported by a multidisciplinary care team, and 150 graduate medical education learners. Asher will oversee neurology, neurosurgery and psychiatry across the enterprise, and will collaborate with leaders at the Brain Health Network at the University of South Carolina to grow research and clinical trials.
Asher has held many senior leadership roles, including president of the Neurosciences Institute at Atrium Health and director of the Center for Neuroscience Innovation at Advocate Health. He previously served as vice dean for the Neuroscience Center of Excellence and professor of neurological surgery at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. He founded and served as the initial neurosurgical residency program director at Carolinas Medical Center.
He holds senior academic appointments at Mayo Clinic, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He has authored or co-authored more than 260 peer-reviewed publications and his contributions in academic medicine—particularly in outcomes research, quality improvement and translational neuroscience—are widely recognized. His national leadership has included service as director and vice chairman of the American Board of Neurological Surgery and as president of both the American Association of Neurological Surgeons and Congress of Neurological Surgeons, roles that have helped shape national standards in neurosurgical education, certification and quality.
Throughout his career, Asher has pursued innovation through multidisciplinary, cross-institutional collaboration, including the development of national clinical registries, health care policy initiatives, translational science efforts, and biomedical technology. Most notably, he has helped establish enduring programs in neuro-oncology and clinical data science that have strengthened evidence-based practice, advanced understanding of therapeutic effectiveness and produced care paradigms and delivery models adopted broadly across both academic and community settings.
