Thanks to the years and years spent poring over textbooks to study the inner workings of the brain, the high level of manual dexterity required to perform operations and the mental pressures that come with taking patients’ lives in your hands, there can be little doubt the journey to becoming a brain surgeon is one of the most challenging any of us can embark upon.

So, what exactly does it take to become a successful brain surgeon and what does the day-to-work reality look like when the years of training are finally complete?

In this episode, we catch up Theodore H Schwartz, professor of neurosurgery based at Weill Cornell Medical Center, to talk about his new book Gray Matters: A Biography of Brain Surgery.

He tells us about his own personal journey to become an in-demand surgeon, what it’s like to work in one of New York’s busiest hospitals, and the surprising crossover between brain surgery and learning how to play an instrument.

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