Joseph R. Walker, MD, FAANS, Partner Emeritus

Dr. Joseph Walker, together with Dr. William Dawson, formed Sierra Neurosurgery Group in 1980. A few months later, John S. Davis MD joined the practice.

29 years later, Sierra Neurosurgery Group is the region’s oldest continuously operating group of neurosurgeons and is one of the largest groups in Nevada specializing in the treatment of brain and spinal disorders.

Being able to help patients with challenging neurosurgical problems is both fascinating and rewarding for Dr. Walker. His passion for his work has taken him to the far reaches of rural Nevada where local brain and spinal care has not been available. Piloting his own airplane, Dr. Walker provides essential neurosurgical services to the residents of Winnemucca and Elko, Nevada each month. Dr. Walker specializes in trigeminal neuralgia, kyphoplasty, spinal fusion, artificial lumbar and cervical disc replacement, scoliosis and X-stop, ulnar neuropathy and carpal tunnel.

Dr. Walker graduated with his Medical Degree from Creighton University then completed an internship and a year of surgical residency at the Thomas Jefferson Medical College (Philadelphia, Pa). After serving as a Lt. Commander in the US Navy, he completed his neurosurgical training and a year of postgraduate fellowship at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill before starting his neurosurgical practice in Reno, Nevada.

Dr. Walker is board certified by the American Board of Neurological Surgery. He is also fellowship trained in neurosurgery, and a member of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, the Congress of Neurological Surgeons and the Western Neurosurgical Society, as well as the AANS/CNS Joint Section of Disorders of the Spine and Peripheral Nerves.

Dr. Walker retired from practice in August of 2016.

Post-Graduate Experience

• Jefferson Medical Hospital, General Surgery Resident

• University of North Carolina, Neurosurgery Resident, Fellow

• Certified by the American Board of Neurological Surgery
  Fellowship Trained in Neurosurgery

Professional Associations

• American Association of Neurological Surgeons
• Congress of Neurological Surgeons
• Womack Surgical Society
• Dugger Neurological Society
• Western Neurosurgical Association
• Neurosurgical Society of Nevada
• Nevada State Medical Association
• Washoe County Medical Society