Carlson graduated from the UNM School of Medicine and completed his residency training in neurosurgery at UNM in 2011. His clinical interests include vascular and skull base neurosurgery. He completed fellowships in these areas at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of South Florida – one of the largest skull-base referral centers in the U.S. Carlson is certified in all areas of general adult and pediatric neurosurgery, with a particular focus on complex cranial disease, including aneurysms, arteriovenous malformations, stroke treatment and prevention, trigeminal neuralgia and brain tumors, such as meningiomas, vestibular schwannomas and gliomas.

Carlson has a master’s degree in clinical research and leads several clinical trials at UNM.

Research Interests

Mechanisms of brain injury and stroke, including cortical spreading depolarizations and cerebral blood flow physiology, and refining treatments and techniques to make treatment of brain pathology more safe and effective.