Dr. Praveen Mummaneni is the Joan O'Reilly Distinguished Professor in Spinal Surgery at UCSF. He is a neurosurgeon who serves as co-director of the UCSF Spine Center and vice chair of the neurosurgery department. He is also the Lead Surgeon of UCSF Parnassus Perioperative Service for all surgical specialties at the main campus.

In patient care, Mummaneni specializes in surgeries for a variety of conditions, including scoliosis, spinal tumors, and degenerative spinal disease (stenosis). His surgical philosophy is to optimize minimally invasive surgery.

Mummaneni earned his medical degree at an accelerated program at Boston University and completed a residency in neurological surgery at UCSF. His additional training includes a complex spine fellowship at Emory University. He also earned a master of business administration degree at Louisiana State University.

Mummaneni is internationally recognized for his work on cervical spine disease and minimally invasive approaches to spinal deformity surgery and spinal tumors. He has been a guest lecturer at international meetings on six continents and has published more than 500 manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals. He is editor of 9 textbooks, including Spinal Deformity: A Guide to Surgical Planning and Management, Handbook of Minimally Invasive and Percutaneous Spine Surgery, Handbook of Spine Surgery, Cervical Spine Surgery: Current Trends and Challenges and Minimally Invasive Spinal Deformity Surgery: An Evolution of Modern Techniques. Every year since 2005, he has been selected by U.S. News & World Report as one of the best doctors in America. He has also been named a Super Doctor by the San Francisco Chronicle, a Top Doctor by Marin Magazine, and a Top Doctor by Castle Connolly.

Mummaneni is active in several professional organizations. He previously served as the president of the San Francisco Neurological Society, president of the California Association of Neurological Surgeons, chair of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons and Congress of Neurological Surgeons' Joint Spine Section, and vice president of the Congress of Neurological Surgery. He was one of the first neurosurgeons to obtain active membership in the Scoliosis Research Society (SRS) and to win its Edgar Dawson and International Traveling Fellowship Awards. He is now Secretary-elect of the SRS. He is also a Director of the American Board of Neurological Surgery. He serves on the editorial board of multiple journals and is now Deputy Editor of Neurosurgery. He completed a term as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine.