John J. Knightly, MD

Dr. John Knightly is vice-chairman of Atlantic Neuroscience Institute and medical director of Atlantic Health System’s neuro-spine team at Overlook Medical Center in Summit, NJ and Morristown Medical Center in Morristown, NJ.

Dr. Knightly has been a leading proponent and developer of minimally invasive spinal surgical techniques. His areas of clinical interest include complex spine surgery, minimally invasive spine surgery, stereotactic radiosurgery, tumors of the spine, endoscopic neurosurgery and trauma. Dr. Knightly is one of the few doctors on the U.S. East Coast to work with the radiosurgery technology CyberKnife ®, which enables physicians to treat certain previously inoperable tumors.

He is a member of the North American Spine Society, as well as a member of the Joint Sections of Spine and Peripheral Nerve and Neurotrauma and the American Association of Neurological Surgeons/Congress of Neurological Surgeons. Dr. Knightly is a frequent lecturer on spinal surgical techniques and concussion prevention and management. He is widely published and has written many articles that detail complex spine management.

Dr. Knightly received his medical degree from The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in Newark, N.J. His post-graduate training and residency training were completed at the Bethesda Naval Hospital in Bethesda, Md. Dr. Knightly completed a research fellowship in the surgical neurology branch of the National Institutes of Health and in pediatric neurosurgery at The Children's Hospital in Boston. He completed advanced training in trauma at the Shock-Trauma Center in Baltimore. In addition, Dr. Knightly completed a Fellowship in Complex Spine with Dr. Volker Sonntag at The Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix. He achieved Board Certification in 1998 from the American Board of Neurological Surgeons.