Ian McNeill

Ian Thomas McNeill graduated from Avon High School in 1998, where he played football, basketball, and ran track all four years. During his football career, he was a three-year starter on defense and offense and as a tailback, he amassed 3,256 career rushing yards and served as a co-captain during his senior year. He was named two-time All-Pequot conference Offensive Player of the Year in his junior and senior seasons. Also in his senior year, he was named All-State Honorable Mention running back and was one of five recipients of the inaugural Connecticut High School Coaches Association scholarships, recognized at the Northern Connecticut Chapter of the National Football Foundation and ultimately inducted into the National High School Football Hall of Fame.

Ian was a co-captain of the AHS track team as a junior and senior and was named to the 1998 Hartford Courant All-Academic team for outdoor track. He was a team member of the 1997-98 Avon High School basketball team that went 23-1 and handed its only loss in the semifinals of the Class S State Boys Basketball Tournament. He served on student government, was elected class president during his freshman and junior year, was active in a variety of clubs, and graduated 17th in his graduating class.

After excelling as a Falcon, Ian continued his studies at Harvard University where he earned an undergraduate degree in Afro American Studies in 2002. He was a four-year member of the Harvard football team, continuing his excellence at tailback. In 2001, the team was undefeated and won the Ivy League championship. Unfortunately his career ended due to a knee injury, but it was Ian’s experience with that injury that likely fueled his interest in health care.

After college, Ian worked as a mental health counselor at the Yale Child Study Center in New Haven; earned a master’s degree in Physiology and Biophysics at Georgetown University; and then worked as a healthcare consultant on hospital revenue enhancement and cost containment at The Advisory Board Company in Washington, DC. In 2009, he entered the University of Virginia (UVA) School of Medicine where he earned his Doctor of Medicine. While in medical school, he served as the UVA SNMA Community Service Chair, UVA AMA Student Chapter President, and Director to the Medical Society of Virginia Board of Directors.

Ian completed his residency training in neurological surgery at The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. During his residency, he completed a one-year enfolded fellowship in complex spine surgery; was elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society; and remained active in mentorship and advocacy for medical students of color. In 2017, with the support of the Mount Sinai Department of Neurosurgery and the Mount Sinai Center for Excellence in Youth Education, he launched a summer immersion and mentorship program for high school students of color known as DR. MMEN (Doctors Reaching Minority Males Exploring Neuroscience).

After finishing his residency in 2020, Ian completed a second spine surgery fellowship with the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at the University of California, San Francisco. In 2021, he started in his current role of Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery and Codirector of Scoliosis and Spinal Deformity Surgery at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine and UConn Health. He resides in Avon with his wife and two children.