Ashok Asthagiri was born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, and immigrated to the United States in 1982. He grew up in Ohio, where he completed his undergraduate education at the University of Akron and received his medical degree from Northeastern Ohio Medical University.
After graduating from medical school in 2001, Dr. Asthagiri completed a general surgical internship and neurosurgical residency at UVA. During his residency, he pursued a fellowship in general neurosurgery at the Auckland City Hospital in Auckland, New Zealand, and a fellowship in neuropathology at UVA.
After completing residency training, Dr. Asthagiri joined the Surgical Neurology Branch in the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland. During his six years at the NIH, he focused his clinical and research efforts on reducing the burden of disease in patients with multiple neoplasia syndromes, such as NF1, NF2 and VHL. The American Association of Neurological Surgeons and Congress of Neurological Surgeons Joint Section on Tumors recognized his efforts; he was awarded the Tumor Young Investigator Award in 2011.
In 2013, Dr. Asthagiri rejoined the UVA Department of Neurosurgery, where he is now co-director of the neuro-oncology program. He leads a multidisciplinary effort to treat neurocutaneous disorders, contributes to the basic and clinical research program in the Department of Neurosurgery, and is actively involved in resident physician and medical student education, serving at the director level for both programs. In addition, he has served as course faculty in multiple skull base workshops and is the director of the Microsurgical Anatomy and Skull Base Laboratory at UVA.
Dr. Asthagiri is a recognized leader in organized neurosurgery. He has been on the Executive Committee of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons since 2010. In supporting the educational mission of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons, Dr. Asthagiri has served as the chair of the Research Committee, editor-in-chief of Self-Assessment in Neurological Surgery (SANS), and he serves as the chair of the Education Division. He is also active in the Scientific Program Committee, which serves to keep neurosurgeons and affiliated healthcare professionals, both domestic and international, appraised of cutting-edge technology and advances in the field while providing a broad spectrum of learning opportunities through large, multiday annual meetings.
Dr. Asthagiri married Heather Asthagiri, MD, of Columbia, Tennessee, in 2010. She is a physical medicine and rehabilitation physician at UVA. They are the proud parents of Avani Lynn and Arjun James.