William C. Welch, MD, FACS, FICS

Neurosurgery
Accepting new patients
Sees patients age 18 and up
Penn Neurosurgery Pennsylvania Hospital
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Headshot of William C. Welch, MD, FACS, FICS
Penn Medicine Provider

About me

  • Vice Chair, Department of Neurosurgery Faculty Affairs
  • Chief, Department of Neurosurgery at Pennsylvania Hospital
  • Frederick A. Simeone Professor in Neurosurgery
  • Professor of Neurosurgery in Orthopaedic Surgery

My education and training

  • Medical School: SUNY/Downstate School of Medicine
  • Residency: University of Rochester Medical Center
  • Fellowship: Montefiore Medical Center

Spoken languages

English
English

Reviews

Average Rating

1446 reviews

Comments are submitted by patients and reflect their views and opinions. The comments are not endorsed by and do not necessarily reflect the views of Penn Medicine.

Anonymous
June 2026
very kind and understanding that i have hearing issues
Anonymous
June 2026
i have never asked for a second opinion before. dr. welch is doing further testing.
Anonymous
June 2026
the time and attention to the details concerning my condition the dr spent with me and his calming ability explaining to me.
Anonymous
June 2026
expert in field

Insurance accepted

Please contact the practice and/or the member services department of your insurance company for specific details before receiving services. Providers may participate in some, but not all, products offered by a health plan; providers may also accept plans at some practice locations but not others.

Locations

Penn Medicine hospital privileges

  • Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania: Has privileges to treat patients in the hospital.
  • Pennsylvania Hospital: Has privileges to treat patients in the hospital.
  • Penn Presbyterian Medical Center: Has privileges to treat patients in the hospital.
Dr. Welch is a Penn Medicine physician.

Qualifications and experience

Treatments and conditions

Research

Publications

Dagli MM, Gujral J, Wathen C, Ghenbot Y, Arena J, Golubovsky J, Hasan A, Massaad K, Shin J, Yoon JW, Ozturk AK, Welch WC Development and validation of a machine learning model utilizing the ACS-NSQIP database for predicting early postoperative re-operation in lumbar microdiscectomy. , Brain and Spine: 26: 106108, 2026. doi: 10.1016/j.bas.2026.106108. PMID: 42292287. PMCID: 13262274., 26: 2026


Golobovsky JL, Rajan A, Buddhiraju K, Taori S, Dagli MM, Judy BF, Malhotra NR, Ozturk AK, Schuster JM, Shin JH, Welch WC, Zager E. Ali ZS. Nerve transfers for C5 palsies following cervical spine surgery: a single institution experience and case series. , Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine: 2026


VanHorn T, Zeitouni D, Parish J, Massr A, Welch WC, Whiting D, Kim P, Steinmetz M, Coric D. Posterior lumbar facet arthroplasty versus fusion for the treatment of spondylolisthesis: 3 year results from the Total Posterior Spine System (TOPS) IDE Study , Neurosurgical Focus, 61: 2026,E12


Hoglund ZT, Kathawate VG, Sollenberger CS, Wu AQ, Englander R, Rani N, Saadoun J, Massaad E, Schuster JM, Marcotte PJ, Shammassian BH, Welch WC, Casper DS, Ozturk AK, Ali ZS, Malhotra NR, Shin JS, Judy BF. Cost-effectiveness of three-level cervical disc arthroplasty vs. anterior discectomy and fusion: a comparative single-system analysis. , Journal of Spine Surgery, 12: 2026


Santangelo G, Sollenerger C, Wathen C, Macaluso D, Dagli MM, Ghenbot Y, Gu B, Malhotra N, Ali Z, Yoon JW, Welch WC, Judy BF, Ozturk AK Patient factors rather than surgical approach are associated with readmission and reoperation for cervical spondylotic myelopathy , Journal of Spine Surgery, 4: 2026


Ghenbot Y, Arena JD, Dagli MM, Crabil GA, Golubovsky J, Gu B, Wathen C, Shost M, Heintz J, Casper D, Judy B, Yoon JW, Ali Z, Shin JH, Welch WC, Arlet V, Ozturk AK The interaction of upper instrumented vertebral screw angle and tilt angle on the development of proximal junctional failure following correction of adult spinal deformity , Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine: 2026


Sasso R, Villavicencio AT, Lavelle WF, Kim KD, Davis RJ, Fielding LC, Alamin TF, Welch WC, The LimiFlex Study Group. Decompression and dynamic sagittal tether stabilization for degenerative spondylolisthesis: Primary outcomes of a multicenter FDA IDE trial. , Spine (Philadelphia, PA 1976): 2026


Sasso R, Villavicencio AT, Lavelle WF, Kim KD, Davis RJ, Fielding LC, Alamin TF, Welch WC, The LimiFlex Study Group. Decompression and dynamic sagittal tether stabilization for degenerative spondylolisthesis: Primary outcomes of a multicenter FDA IDE trial , Spine (Philadelphia, PA 1976): 2026


Howard SD, Pessoa R, Costello L, Silpagar M, Gardiner D, Tambe U, Rushanan S, Josi D, Nguyen J, Macaluso D, Malhotra NR, Welch WC, Ali ZS Accuracy of RAPT score in predicting discharge disposition in patients undergoing spine surgery within an enhanced recovery after surgery program , Clinical Spine Surg: 2025


Albayar A, Mensah-Brown K, Spadola M, Johnson M, Leibowitz L, Ali AS, Saifi C, Malhotra NR, Welch WC, Arlet V, Ozturk AK Staging circumferential spinal fusions for adult spinal deformities adds admission costs without improving postoperative outcomes , JMIR Research Protocol: 2025