John J. Knightly, MD
Dr. John Knightly received his Bachelor of Arts from Franklin and Marshall College,
Lancaster, Pennsylvania and his MD from The University of Medicine and Dentistry of
New Jersey in Newark, New Jersey. His post-graduate training and residency training were
completed at the Bethesda Naval Hospital, Bethesda, Maryland. 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, Massachusetts. He
completed advanced training in trauma at the Shock-Trauma Center in Baltimore, Maryland.
In addition, Dr. Knightly completed a Fellowship in Complex Spine with Dr. Volker Sonntag
at The Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Arizona. He achieved Board Certification in
1998 from the American Board of Neurological Surgeons.
Dr. Knightly has been a leading proponent and developer of minimally invasive spinal surgical
techniques. In addition to his clinical expertise in spine surgery, he also has a strong interest
in neurotrauma. He is a co-founder and director of the Concussion Center at the Atlantic Neuroscience Institute.
Dr. Knightly is the Director of Neurosurgery at Morristown Memorial Hospital and the Vice-Chairman of
Atlantic Health Institute, where he also serves as the Medical Director of the neuro-spine team.
Dr. Knightly’s areas of clinical interest include complex spine surgery, minimally invasive spine
surgery, stereotactic radiosurgery, tumors of the spine, endoscopic neurosurgery and trauma. He is
one of the few doctors on the East Coast to work with the revolutionary tool, the CyberKnife®.
The CyberKnife® 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 American Association of Neurological Surgeons/Congress of Neurological
Surgeons. Dr. Knightly is a frequent lecturer on spinal surgical techniques. He has written and
published many articles which detail complex spine management.
CyberKnife® is a registered trademark of Accuray Incorporated.
