Dr. Onesti is a board certified neurosurgeon, specializing in spine surgery, and is a Castle Connolly top doctor.

1. News From:
For Immediate Release May 2, 2012
Contact: Damian Becker, Manager of Media Relations
(516) 377-5370
South Nassau Names Dr. Onesti
Director of Neurosurgery
Oceanside, NY — South Nassau Communities Hospital has appointed Stephen T. Onesti, MD,
FACS, director of neurosurgery. Dr. Onesti is a board certified neurosurgeon, specializing in spine
surgery and succeeds Stephen D. Burstein, MD, FACS, who served South Nassau’s neurosurgery
program for over four decades.
“Dr. Onesti undoubtedly will continue the tradition of excellence and quality that the division of
neurosurgery established under the leadership and direction of Dr. Burstein,” said Rajiv Datta, MD,
FACS, chair of the department of surgery and medical director of the Gertrude & Louis Feil Cancer
Center at South Nassau. “He is an accomplished surgeon with a passion and vision for developing and
introducing treatments and technologies that meet the needs of the patients served by South Nassau.”
Previously, Dr. Onesti served as professor of neurosurgery and chair of the Department of
Neurosurgery at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences Center of Brooklyn, NY, from 2003-2011. Dr.
Onesti received his undergraduate degree, magna cum laude, from Harvard College and his medical
degree, cum laude, from Harvard Medical School. He completed his residency in neurosurgery at
Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center/Neurological Institute of New York in 1993.
A Castle Connolly Top Doctor of the New York metro area, Dr. Onesti has published many
articles in peer-reviewed journals, and has given numerous presentations at local and national meetings.
He is the co-editor of a book on degenerative disc disease of the cervical spine. A Fellow of the
American College of Surgeons (FACS), Dr. Onesti holds professional memberships with the American
Association of Neurological Surgeons, for which he served on the Board of Directors from 2006-‘09,
and the New York State Neurosurgical Society, for which he served as president from 2007-‘09.
South Nassau Communities Hospital is one of the region’s largest hospitals, with 435 beds, more
than 900 physicians and 3,000 employees. Located in Oceanside, NY, the hospital is an acute-care, not-
for-profit teaching hospital that provides state-of-the-art care in cardiac, oncologic, orthopedic, bariatric,

2. pain management, mental health and emergency services. In addition to its extensive outpatient
specialty centers, South Nassau provides emergency and elective angioplasty and is the only hospital on
Long Island with the Novalis Tx™ and Gamma Knife® Perfexion radiosurgery technologies. South
Nassau is a designated Stroke Center by the New York State Department of Health and Comprehensive
Community Cancer Center by the American College of Surgeons and is recognized as a Bariatric
Surgery Center of Excellence by the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery. For more
information, visit www.southnassau.org.
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