Neuropathy affects millions of Americans and can significantly reduce quality of life without proper specialist care. Peripheral neuropathy affects roughly 15% of Americans over age 40. Finding a qualified neurologist with dedicated peripheral nerve expertise is the most important step a patient can take toward accurate diagnosis and effective treatment. This directory identifies 10 of the most qualified neuropathy specialists in the USA, verified through board certifications, published research, and peer recognition.
How We Selected These Specialists
Every specialist on this list was verified through board certification records, published research, and peer recognition from organizations like Castle Connolly and the American Neurological Association. We evaluated each doctor for subspecialty training in neuromuscular medicine, active clinical practice at a recognized academic medical center, contributions to peer reviewed research, and recognition by independent medical bodies. This list is not sponsored. Numbering is for readability only and does not represent a ranking of quality.
At a Glance
| Doctor | Location | Specialty Focus | Key Credential |
|---|---|---|---|
| Norman Latov, MD, PhD | New York, NY | Autoimmune and inflammatory neuropathy | Castle Connolly Top Doctor since 1998 |
| Thomas H. Brannagan III, MD | New York, NY | CIDP, hereditary amyloid neuropathy | 2023 Clinician of the Year, Columbia |
| Ahmet Höke, MD, PhD | Baltimore, MD | Nerve regeneration, toxic neuropathy | Gebhart Prize 2022 (Peripheral Nerve Society) |
| Eva L. Feldman, MD, PhD | Ann Arbor, MI | Diabetic and metabolic neuropathy | National Academy of Medicine member |
| Brian C. Callaghan, MD, MS | Ann Arbor, MI | Painful diabetic neuropathy | Led AAN treatment guideline |
| Anne Louise Oaklander, MD, PhD | Boston, MA | Small fiber neuropathy | Pioneered skin biopsy diagnosis for SFPN |
| P. James B. Dyck, MD | Rochester, MN | Peripheral nerve pathology | Director, Mayo Peripheral Nerve Fellowship |
| Christopher J. Klein, MD | Rochester, MN | Genetic and hereditary neuropathy | 250+ publications, Wolfe Research Award |
| Nathan P. Staff, MD, PhD | Rochester, MN | Chemotherapy induced neuropathy | Vice Chair of Research, Mayo Neurology |
| Jeffrey W. Ralph, MD | San Francisco, CA | Immune mediated neuropathy | Director, UCSF Neuropathy Center since 2004 |
Top 10 Neuropathy Specialists in the USA (2026)
1. Norman Latov, MD, PhD, New York, NY
Hospital/Clinic: Peripheral Neuropathy Center, Weill Cornell Medicine / NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital
Specialty Focus: Peripheral neuropathy, autoimmune neuropathies, inflammatory neuropathies, idiopathic neuropathy
Why He Is on This List: Dr. Norman Latov at Weill Cornell Medicine is one of the most recognized peripheral neuropathy specialists in the United States. He is Director of the Peripheral Neuropathy Clinical and Research Center, a center accredited by the American Association of Neuromuscular and Electrodiagnostic Medicine (AANEM) and designated a Center of Excellence by the Neuropathy Association (now the Foundation for Peripheral Neuropathy). His laboratory discovered anti-MAG and GM1 ganglioside antibodies implicated in the pathogenesis of autoimmune neuropathies and developed blood tests used in diagnosis worldwide. He has over 200 peer reviewed publications, has been named a Castle Connolly Top Doctor annually since 1998, and authored Peripheral Neuropathy: When the Numbness, Weakness and Pain Won’t Stop, written to help patients and families understand the condition. He was a founding Board member and former Medical and Research Director of the Neuropathy Association.
Address: 1305 York Avenue, 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10021
Phone: (646) 690-2074 (Neuropathy Center) / (646) 962-3202 (direct)
Official Profile: Weill Cornell Medicine Profile
2. Thomas H. Brannagan III, MD, New York, NY
Hospital/Clinic: Peripheral Neuropathy Center, Columbia University Irving Medical Center / NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital
Specialty Focus: Hereditary transthyretin amyloid polyneuropathy, chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP), diabetic neuropathy
Why He Is on This List: Dr. Brannagan directs the Peripheral Neuropathy Center, the Columbia Neuropathy Research Center, and co-directs the EMG Laboratory at Columbia University Medical Center. He was named Columbia Neurology’s 2023 Clinician of the Year for exceptional achievements in patient care, clinical trials, and mentorship. He is a 2026 Castle Connolly Top Doctor, board certified in neurology, neuromuscular medicine, and clinical neurophysiology, and has over 100 publications with more than 500 citations. Columbia’s neuropathy program holds Center of Excellence designations from both the GBS/CIDP Foundation and the Hereditary Neuropathy Foundation. His clinical trials on treatments for hereditary transthyretin amyloidosis directly contributed to new FDA approved therapies for a condition that previously required liver transplantation.
Address: 710 West 168th Street, New York, NY 10032
Phone: Contact through NewYork-Presbyterian
Official Profile: Columbia Neurology Profile
3. Ahmet Höke, MD, PhD, Baltimore, MD
Hospital/Clinic: Merkin Peripheral Neuropathy and Nerve Regeneration Center, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Specialty Focus: Peripheral neuropathies, nerve injuries, chemotherapy induced neuropathy, nerve regeneration research
Why He Is on This List: Dr. Ahmet Höke at Johns Hopkins directs one of the few dedicated nerve regeneration research centers in the country. He is Professor of Neurology and Neuroscience, the W. W. Smith Charitable Trust Professor of Neuroimmunology, and Director of both the Daniel B. Drachman Division of Neuromuscular Diseases and the Merkin Peripheral Neuropathy and Nerve Regeneration Center. He received the Wolfe Neuropathy Research Prize (2018) and the Gebhart Prize for Excellence in Peripheral Nerve Research (2022) from the Peripheral Nerve Society, and serves as Editor-in-Chief of Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology. He is board certified in neurology. Patients consistently describe him as exceptionally thorough and willing to spend time explaining complex nerve conditions.
Address: 601 North Caroline Street, Baltimore, MD 21287
Phone: (410) 502-0796
Official Profile: Johns Hopkins Medicine Profile
4. Eva L. Feldman, MD, PhD, Ann Arbor, MI
Hospital/Clinic: NeuroNetwork for Emerging Therapies, University of Michigan / Michigan Medicine
Specialty Focus: Diabetic neuropathy, metabolic neuropathy, neurological complications of obesity and diabetes
Why She Is on This List: Dr. Feldman holds the James W. Albers Distinguished University Professorship, the highest faculty honor at the University of Michigan. She is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine, past President of the Peripheral Nerve Society (2007 to 2009), past President of the American Neurological Association (2011 to 2013), and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She and her team developed a clinical screening instrument for diabetic neuropathy that is used worldwide. Her Google Scholar profile lists over 81,000 citations, and she serves on editorial boards for The Lancet Neurology, Nature Reviews Neurology, and JAMA Neurology. Her research linking metabolic dysfunction to neuropathy has reshaped how clinicians approach patients with prediabetes and obesity related nerve damage. For more on diabetic neuropathy symptoms, see SensationInfo’s guide to diabetes and nerve damage.
Address: 1500 East Medical Center Drive, Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Phone: (734) 936-9010
Official Profile: University of Michigan Health Profile
5. Brian C. Callaghan, MD, MS, Ann Arbor, MI
Hospital/Clinic: University of Michigan / Michigan Medicine
Specialty Focus: Painful diabetic neuropathy, neuropathy treatment guidelines, chronic pain management
Why He Is on This List: Dr. Callaghan is a Professor of Neurology and neuromuscular specialist at the University of Michigan. He led the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) guideline on the treatment of painful diabetic neuropathy, one of the most widely referenced clinical practice guidelines in neuropathy care. He completed his medical degree and neurology residency at the University of Pennsylvania and holds a Master’s degree in clinical research from the University of Michigan School of Public Health. He is board certified in neurology and clinical neurophysiology. His guideline work has directly influenced how primary care physicians and neurologists across the country treat painful neuropathy, making his impact extend far beyond his own patient panel.
Address: 1500 East Medical Center Drive, Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Phone: (734) 936-9035
Official Profile: Michigan Medicine Profile
6. Anne Louise Oaklander, MD, PhD, Boston, MA
Hospital/Clinic: Nerve Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital / Harvard Medical School
Specialty Focus: Small fiber polyneuropathy (SFPN), Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS), shingles complications, neuropathic pain
Why She Is on This List: Dr. Anne Louise Oaklander at Massachusetts General Hospital is widely regarded as the leading small fiber neuropathy specialist in the United States. She is Associate Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School and directs both the neurodiagnostic skin biopsy laboratory and the Nerve Unit at Mass General. She pioneered the use of skin biopsies to diagnose small fiber neuropathy, a condition that standard nerve conduction studies cannot detect. Her research has produced over 150 publications and has been funded by the NIH and Department of Defense. She is a Fellow of both the American Neurological Association and the American Academy of Neurology. Patients describe her as relentless in pursuing diagnoses that other physicians have been unable to identify.
Address: 275 Charles Street, Warren 310, Boston, MA 02114
Phone: (617) 726-8639
Official Profile: Mass General Profile
7. P. James B. Dyck, MD, Rochester, MN
Hospital/Clinic: Mayo Clinic, Department of Neurology
Specialty Focus: Peripheral nerve pathology, vasculitic neuropathy, diabetic lumbosacral radiculoplexus neuropathy, clinical trials in neuropathy
Why He Is on This List: Dr. P. James B. Dyck is a Professor and Consultant Neurologist at Mayo Clinic and Program Director of the Neuromuscular Disorders (Peripheral Nerve Disorders) Fellowship. He is board certified in neuromuscular medicine, clinical neurophysiology, and neurology. Mayo Clinic’s Nerve Neuropathology Laboratory produces more than 500 reports per year, and its Sensation and Autonomic Laboratories evaluate more than 2,500 patients annually. The neuropathy program at Mayo, built over six decades, is one of the most referenced centers globally for complex nerve disorder diagnosis. If you want to understand neuropathy as a condition before your appointment, read SensationInfo’s complete guide on what neuropathy is.
Address: 200 First Street SW, Rochester, MN 55905
Phone: (507) 284-1588
Official Profile: Contact through Mayo Clinic Appointments
8. Christopher J. Klein, MD, Rochester, MN
Hospital/Clinic: Mayo Clinic, Department of Neurology
Specialty Focus: Genetic neuropathies, Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) disease, autoimmune neuromuscular disorders, hereditary neuropathy
Why He Is on This List: Dr. Klein is a Professor of Neurology at Mayo Clinic with over 250 publications focused on genetic and epigenetic mechanisms in neuropathy. He received the Wolfe Research Award from the American Neurological Association for contributions to peripheral nerve research. His discovery of DNMT1 mutations in hereditary sensory and autonomic neuropathy type 1E revealed the critical role of DNA methylation in neurodegeneration, and his application of next generation sequencing has improved diagnostic precision for previously unrecognized genetic subtypes. He is board certified in neurology and neuromuscular medicine. For patients with suspected hereditary or genetic neuropathy, he is among the most published specialists in the field.
Address: 200 First Street SW, Rochester, MN 55905
Phone: (507) 512-1011
Official Profile: Contact through Mayo Clinic Appointments
9. Nathan P. Staff, MD, PhD, Rochester, MN
Hospital/Clinic: Mayo Clinic, Department of Neurology
Specialty Focus: Chemotherapy induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN), peripheral neuropathy, regenerative medicine for nerve disorders
Why He Is on This List: Dr. Staff is Associate Professor and Vice Chair of Research in the Department of Neurology at Mayo Clinic. He completed his MD and PhD in neuroscience at Northwestern University, served as chief resident at Mayo, and completed a subspecialty fellowship in peripheral nerve disorders. His research uses induced pluripotent stem cell models to study neuropathy mechanisms, and he has led clinical trials on mesenchymal stem cell therapies. He has been cited over 11,000 times on Google Scholar and co-authored a 2026 JAMA review on peripheral neuropathy. For cancer patients dealing with nerve damage from chemotherapy, Dr. Staff is one of the few neurologists in the country with a research program specifically dedicated to understanding and treating chemotherapy induced neuropathy.
Address: 200 First Street SW, Rochester, MN 55905
Phone: (507) 284-1588
Official Profile: Contact through Mayo Clinic Appointments
10. Jeffrey W. Ralph, MD, San Francisco, CA
Hospital/Clinic: Peripheral Nerve Center, UCSF Health
Specialty Focus: Immune mediated neuropathies, CIDP, peripheral neuropathy, neuromuscular transmission disorders
Why He Is on This List: Dr. Ralph has served as Director of the Neuropathy Center at UCSF Medical Center since 2004, a center founded in part with funding from the Neuropathy Association. He is board certified in neurology and neuromuscular medicine and completed his neurology residency and fellowships in neuromuscular medicine and clinical neurophysiology at UCSF. UCSF Health is recognized by U.S. News and World Report for excellence in neurology and neurosurgery. Patient reviews consistently highlight his diagnostic skill, with multiple patients reporting that he was the first physician to identify their condition after years of inconclusive evaluations elsewhere.
Address: 400 Parnassus Avenue, 8th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94143
Phone: (415) 353-2273
Official Profile: UCSF Health Provider Profile
How to Choose the Right Neuropathy Specialist for Your Condition
The right neuropathy specialist is one who is board certified in neuromuscular medicine and has experience treating your specific type of nerve damage. A neurologist with board certification in neuromuscular medicine is the most qualified type of doctor to treat peripheral neuropathy.
Before your appointment, consider these practical steps. First, ask whether the specialist has experience with your specific type of neuropathy. Diabetic neuropathy, autoimmune neuropathy, small fiber neuropathy, and hereditary neuropathy each require different diagnostic approaches and treatment strategies. A nerve pain doctor who focuses on pain management alone may miss an underlying treatable cause.
Second, check whether the neuropathy clinic offers advanced diagnostic tools such as skin biopsies for small fiber assessment, autonomic function testing, nerve conduction studies, and genetic testing. These tools are standard at academic neuropathy centers but less common in general neurology practices.
Third, ask about clinical trials. Academic medical centers often provide access to emerging treatments that community practices do not. If your neuropathy is progressive or has not responded to standard treatment, access to clinical research may be valuable.
If you are unsure whether you need a specialist, consider this general guideline. A primary care physician can often manage mild, stable neuropathy with a known cause. If your symptoms are worsening, the cause is unknown, or standard treatments are not helping, a referral to a neuropathy specialist is the right next step. For a more complete understanding of peripheral neuropathy and its symptoms, SensationInfo’s guide on peripheral neuropathy symptoms, causes, and living with it is a helpful starting point.
When preparing for your first visit, bring a list of all medications and supplements you take, any prior nerve conduction study or EMG results, recent blood work (especially HbA1c, vitamin B12, thyroid function, and metabolic panel), and a written timeline of when your symptoms started and how they have changed.
Key Takeaways
- A neurologist with board certification in neuromuscular medicine is the single most important credential to look for in a neuropathy specialist.
- Academic medical centers with dedicated neuropathy centers offer advanced diagnostic tools and access to clinical trials that community neuropathy clinics typically do not.
- Diabetic neuropathy, small fiber neuropathy, autoimmune neuropathy, and hereditary neuropathy each require different expertise, so match your neuropathy specialist to your condition.
- Prepare for your first appointment with a medication list, prior test results, and a symptom timeline to make the most of your visit.
- Early referral to a neuropathy specialist in the USA leads to better outcomes, particularly for neuropathies with treatable causes.
Frequently Asked Questions
Neuropathy is primarily treated by neurologists, specifically those with subspecialty training in neuromuscular medicine. A neurologist with board certification in neuromuscular medicine has the most targeted training for diagnosing and managing peripheral nerve disorders. Depending on the underlying cause, patients may also work with endocrinologists for diabetic neuropathy, rheumatologists for autoimmune neuropathy, or pain management specialists for symptom control.
Most health insurance plans, including Medicare and Medicaid, cover visits to neurologists and neuromuscular specialists when referred by a primary care physician. Coverage for specific tests such as skin biopsies or autonomic function testing varies by plan. Patients should contact their insurance provider and the specialist’s office before the appointment to confirm coverage for the visit and any planned diagnostic testing.
A neurologist is the best first step for nerve pain because neurologists can diagnose the type and cause of neuropathy, which is essential for effective treatment. Pain management specialists can be a valuable addition to a care team when pain is severe and requires multimodal treatment. However, pain management without a proper neurological diagnosis often leads to symptom masking rather than treatment of the root cause.
Patients should consider seeing a neuropathy specialist if symptoms are getting worse despite treatment, the cause of the neuropathy is unknown (idiopathic), unusual symptoms such as rapidly spreading numbness or severe autonomic dysfunction are present, or access to clinical trials and emerging therapies is desired. A primary care doctor can manage mild, stable neuropathy with a known cause.
Wait times vary significantly depending on the center. High demand academic centers like Mayo Clinic or Johns Hopkins may have wait times of several weeks to several months for new patient appointments. University hospitals with multiple neuropathy specialists on staff may offer shorter waits. Many practices now offer telehealth consultations for initial evaluations, which can help patients get started sooner while waiting for an in-person visit.
