Dr. Gary Simonds received his bachelor's from Dartmouth College, and his medical degree from Rutgers Medical School.He trained in Neurosurgery at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. He completed a medical research fellowship at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. He also has recently completed a Master’s program in healthcare delivery science at Dartmouth College. 

Simonds has been a faculty neurosurgeon at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the Geisinger Clinic and Carilion Clinic-Virginia Tech Carilion (CC-VTC). Simonds is the founding director and chief of the full-service neurosurgery division at CC-VTC (featuring 9 surgeons and 11 supporting advanced care practitioners). In 2006, he developed and initiated a neurosurgery residency training program and has been its program director since its inception. He is a professor of surgery/neurosurgery at the Virginia Tech School of Medicine, the Virginia Tech School of Neuroscience and the Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine.

Simonds has been a highly active clinical neurosurgeon, personally performing more than 13,500 procedures in his career of all types and complexities. This has included more than 2,500 pediatric procedures. He very active in the Council of State Neurosurgical Societies, the Self-Assessment in Neurological Surgery program, the Goodman Oral Boards Preparation Course, and the Osteopathic Neurosurgery Resident Boot Camp. He is also heavily invested in the neuroscience, socioeconomic and medical ethics education of a host of learners. He is also very involved in collaborative clinical and bench research in the neurosciences. 

Simonds’ principal focus over the past four years has been the building of resident and physician wellness and resilience. Together with Wayne Sotile, PhD, he has authored two books on the subject—Building Resilience in Neurosurgical Residents and The Thriving Physician—and has lectured across the country on the subject.