As an undergraduate medical student and neurological surgical resident at University of Pennsylvania, Langer worked with Katalin Karikó. Langer published two articles with Karikó, in 1998 and 2001, on their early mRNA delivery research. This ultimately led Karikó to publish the work that led directly to the development of the Moderna and BioNTech mRNA COVID-19 vaccines.[7]
Langer was recruited by Northwell Health in 2013 to establish a neurosurgery department at Lenox Hill Hospital. Since then, the department has evolved to land Lenox Hill Hospital among U.S. News & World Report's top 50 hospitals for neurology and neurosurgery. He also maintains an active practice in spinal disease and benign brain tumors, including acoustic neuromas and meningiomas.[9]
In January 2018, Langer co-founded Playback Health with Gregory Odland. Playback is a mobile platform application that allows health care providers to create multimedia reports and medical instructions that are shared directly with patients. As of December 2020, Playback has raised $3 million.[10]
In August 2019, Langer was relaxing on a beach in Amagansett, New York when a fellow beachgoer fell off of his surfboard and could no longer feel his limbs. Langer rushed to help the man and stabilized his neck with boogie boards, motivating the man to try and move his toes. Langer ultimately ended up operating on the man.[11]
In 2020 Langer starred in the Netflixdocu-series, Lenox Hill, a Netflix Original that shadowed four doctors in the areas of neurosurgery, emergency medicine, and obstetrics and gynecology at the Lenox Hill Hospital.[12] The series provides a real-life look into his role as a neurosurgeon and chief of neurosurgery in a rising New York City neuro program. Langer starred on the docu-series along with his vice-chair of neurosurgery, Dr. John Boockvar.[13][14]
In early 2022, Langer suffered a spinal cord injury in a skiing accident in Colorado, leaving him temporarily paralyzed. He returned to New York, and regained full sensation and mobility.[18]
