Thomas Mindermann studied medicine at the University of Basel, Switzerland graduating in 1983. He earned a medical doctorate with supervisors Prof. Dr. U.F. Gruber & Prof. Dr. M. Allgöwer at the University of Basel in 1984. He was board-certified as a neurosurgeon in Switzerland in 1995. During his residency and thereafter, he engaged in clinical- and lab-research joining the microdialysis group at the Surgical Department of Research at the University Hospital of Basel. He spent a postdoctoral fellowship with Prof. Dr. C.B. Wilson as a Senior Pituitary Research Fellow at the Department of Neurological Surgery at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) from 1992 until 1993. He worked as a resident and then as an attending neurosurgeon with chairman Prof. Dr. O. Gratzl at the Department of Neurosurgery of the University Hospitals of Basel until 1999. There, he earned a habilitation in neurosurgery and was appointed a Lecturer of Neurosurgery at the University of Basel in 1999.

In 2000, PD Dr. med. Thomas Mindermann joined the Hirslanden Hospitals of Zurich and Aarau where he conducted cerebral- and spinal neurosurgery. In addition, he performed neuro-radiosurgery with the Gamma Knife and the CyberKnife until his retirement in 2021. He served as the Medical Director of the Gamma Knife Center Zurich from 2000 until its decommissioning in 2009 and he served on the Board of Medical Directors of Hirslanden Klinik Im Park in Zurich from 2001 until his retirement in 2021.

As part of his university and public services, Mindermann supervised doctoral theses, gave final medical exams and neurosurgical board exams. He regularly took part in academic teaching of undergraduate medical students at the University of Basel and in postgraduate teaching of neurosurgical residents. He served as the Secretary of the Swiss Neurosurgical Society and as the society’s President of the Commission on Radiosurgery. He regularly publishes in refereed journals and serves as a reviewer of scientific publications. Thomas Mindermann continues to serve on the Editorial Boards of “Acta Neurochirurgica, The European Journal of Neurosurgery” and of “Surgical Neurology International”.

  • 'Radiosurgery' (a) the worldwide largest multi-center series on meningiomas undergoing Gamma Knife radiosurgery at the time of its publication (Neurosurg, 2012); (b) the 1st report on the significance of tumor location in Gamma Knife radiosurgery for meningiomas (Stereotact Funct Neurosurg, 2004) and (c) the largest series of intraventricular meningiomas treated with single-session radiosurgery at the time of its publication (Acta Neurochir, 2020).
  • 'Pituitary Tumors' (a) the 1st series on changes in immunophenotype of recurrent pituitary adenomas (Neurosurg, 1994); (b) the 1st report on the incidence of unexpected histologies in pre-operatively assumed pituitary adenomas (The Lancet, 1998) and (c) the 1st and largest report to date on the epidemiology of surgically treated pituitary adenomas (Clin Endocrinol, 1994)
  • 'Microdialysis' the 1st in-vivo determination of the penetration of a non-metabolite into the human cerebral extracellular space (Antimicrob Agents Chemother, 1998)
  • 'Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)' (a) the 1st case report on sustained interhemispheric pressure gradients in a patient with a blunt TBI (Acta Neurochir, 1992) and (b) the 1st series on interhemispheric pressure gradients in humans following TBI (Acta Neurochir, 1998)
  • 'Antibiotics in surgery and neurosurgery' (a) the 1st survey on the application of single-dose antibiotic prophylaxis in general surgery in Switzerland (Fortschr Med, 1984); (b) the 1st in-vivo determination of antibiotic penetration into the cerebral extracellular space (J Antimicrob Chemother, 1993) and (c) books on Single-Dose Antibiotic Prophylaxis in Surgery and Gynecology, Hans Huber publishers, 1st ed in 1984 in German & in 1985 in English; Springer Verlag, 2nd ed in 1991 in German

  • Swiss Society of Neurosurgery (SGNC, CH)
  • The American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS, USA)
  • The Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS, USA)
  • The Royal Society of Medicine (RSM, UK)
  • International Stereotactic Radiosurgery Society (ISRS)