About Dr. Murphy

A board-certified neurosurgeon and an associate professor in the Department of Neurosurgery at Barrow Neurological Institute. Dr. Rory Murphy’s clinical practice focuses on the surgical treatment of complex cranial and spinal pathologies, including tumors and spinal cord compression. He is a member of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS), AO Spine, the Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS), and the Cervical Spine Research Society Education Committee.

Dr. Murphy earned his medical degree from University College Cork in Ireland. He completed his neurosurgery residency at Washington University in St. Louis, and a fellowship at the University of California-San Francisco.

Dr. Murphy is active in translational research. He is an investigator on Elon Musk’s Neuralink Precise & Convoy studies and an investigator for the Department of Defense Cervical Spinal Cord Injury Hypothermia Trial. His research has been published in Nature, Journal of Neurosurgery, Neurosurgery, and Spine.

To provide better solutions to patients, he has co-founded, invested in, and advises a number of VC-backed medical device startups, including Intelligent Implants, Neurobell, and Fortego Neuvotion. His work has been featured on CNN, Fox, BBC, The Guardian, TechCrunch, and Wired, where he was cited for his involvement in a new generation of brain implant technology targeting cancer.

Dr. Murphy was featured in Wired magazine in connection with Coherence Neuro, a San Francisco-based startup developing a brain-computer interface designed to detect and treat brain tumors using targeted electrical stimulation. The article reports that Dr. Murphy, a clinical trial investigator in Neuralink’s programs, is slated to be involved in Coherence Neuro’s future human trials, which aim to transform glioblastoma from a terminal diagnosis into a continuously monitored and managed condition.

Dr. Murphy is a trustee for myelopathy.org, a patient-led organization dedicated to raising awareness and improving treatment of degenerative cervical myelopathy, the most common cause of spinal cord injury. He serves on the Barrow Neurological Institute at Phoenix Children’s Hospital advisory board.

He has been named a PHOENIX Magazine Top Doctor four consecutive years: 2023, 2024, 2025, and 2026. Dr. Murphy has also been selected for the AZ Blue Gold Card Program, an exclusive designation reserved for providers with a proven record of clinical excellence, meaning fewer prior authorization delays and a higher standard of care for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona members.

Dr. Murphy is committed to matching a person’s goals with the least invasive treatment option, utilizing motion preservation techniques, so patients can return to their activities as soon as possible.