Sergio Canavero (born 1964) is an Italian neurosurgeon known for making claims about his ability to perform head transplantations.

Canavero grew up in Turin to a poor family. He has described his upbringing as rough.

He enrolled for medicine at the University of Turin at age 18 and graduated. In the mid-1980s, he began to train as a functional neurosurgeon at the University Hospital in Turin before being employed at the same venue. He worked for 22 years as a neurosurgeon (including being the Director of the Turin Advanced Neuromodulation Group) until his contract was terminated in February 2015 due to increased opposition to his work from multiple quarters. After his termination from the University Hospital, he was inducted as an honorary professor by Harbin Medical University.