Current Award Recipients

2024 Charlie Kuntz Scholar Award Recipients

Kimberly Ashayeri

Intraoperative Spinal cord Shear wave Elastography In patients undergoing spinal column shortening for recurrent tethered spinal cord: A novel quantitative metric

Rabih Bou Nassif

Predictive Factors for Kyphoplasty Failure in Cancer Related Pathologic Vertebral Fractures

Hani Chanbour

The Impact of Targeted Systemic Therapy and Radiotherapy on Patients Undergoing Spine Surgery for Metastatic Breast Cancer: A Dual-Institution Study

Steve Cho

Predicting Improvement in Global Sagittal Alignment After Lumbar Decompression—A Novel Application of the Global Alignment and Proportions Score

Michael Cloney

Atlas Fractures with and without Simultaneous Dens Fractures differ with respect to Clinical, Demographic, and Management Characteristics

Ian Connolly

Piezo1 Activation Enhances Bone Growth in a Mouse Model of Spinal Fusion

Joseph DiDomenico

Does Comorbid Anxiety and Depression Portend Poor Long-Term Outcomes Following Surgery for Lumbar Spondylolisthesis? Five-Year Analysis of the Quality Outcomes Database

James Dragonette

Does Laminectomy Width Impact Postoperative C5 Palsy after Posterior Cervical Decompression Fusion for Cervical Spondylotic Myelopathy: A Prospective Comparative Cohort Study

James Dragonette

Fusion and Patient-reported Outcomes after Navigation-Guided Decorticated Direct Arthrodesis vs. Non-Decorticated Arthrodesis in Minimally Invasive Sacroiliac Joint Fusion: A Comparative Cohort Study

Alexander Dru

Predictors of Patient Satisfaction After Surgery for Grade I Degenerative Lumbar Spondylolisthesis: A 5-year Analysis of the Quality Outcomes Database

Aladine Elsamadicy

Drivers of Readmission after Surgery for Spinal Metastases: A National Database Study

S. Harrison Farber

In Home Virtual Reality Therapy Reduces Pain, Anxiety, and Depression in Patients with Chronic Cervical and lumbar Spondylytic Pain

Colin Gold

Use of Awake MIS-TLIF is Associated with Shorter Length of Stay and Less Narcotic Use After Surgery

Saad Javeed

Reliability and Validity of Momentary Pain and Disability Assessments for Lumbar Spine Surgery Patients

Eli Johnson

Single cell transcriptomic comparison of the tumor microenvironment of prostate cancer spine metastasis and an adjacent normal vertebral body

Benjamin Johnston

Somatic Motor Nerve Transfer for Bladder Function

Benjamin Johnston

Targeted Peripheral Nerve Delivery of AAV-mediated Gene Therapy for Pain

Rushikesh Joshi

Does intraoperative durotomy affect patient outcomes following posterior lumbar surgery? An analysis of 18,000 patients using the Michigan Spine Surgery Improvement Collaborative (MSSIC) database

Syed Khalid

The impact of preoperative spinal injections on postoperative complications of lumbar decompression surgery

Adham Khalafallah

The Rise of a New Gold Standard: Evaluating the Diagnostic Accuracy of Magnetic Resonance Angiography (MRA) Versus Digital Subtraction Angiography (DSA) in Spinal Dural Arteriovenous Fistulas (SDAVF)

Syed Khalid

Postoperative Opioid Use among Cannabis Users Following Lumbar Fusion

Syed Khalid

Semaglutide Exposure and its Association with Adverse Outcomes in Patients Undergoing TLIF for Lumbar Degenerative Disc Disease

Adam Leibold

Comparing the cost and efficiency of endoscopic discectomy and microdiscectomy for lumbar disc herniations

Jannik Leyendecker

ASA, BMI, and Age do not affect the 90-day readmission and emergency department utilization following full-endoscopic spine surgery: A retrospective multicenter study of 787 patients

Daniel Lilly

Quantifying Patient and Surgeon Impact on Quality-of-Life Volatility Following Surgery for Lumbar Spinal Stenosis

Joseph Linzey

Development and Validation of an Artificial Intelligence Model to Accurately Predict Spinopelvic Parameters

Joseph Linzey

Impact of Patient Pain vs. Functional Status on Satisfaction with Outcomes After Surgical Management of Grade I Spondylolisthesis: A 5-year Analysis of the Quality Outcomes Database

Tarek Mansour

Risk Factors for Chronic Opioid use Following Cervical Spine Surgery in Opioid-Naïve Patients: A MSSIC Study

David Mazur-Hart

A retrospective analysis of 513 patients undergoing pedicle subtraction osteotomy for adult spinal deformity: are elderly patients at an elevated risk for complications?

Anthony Mikula

Change in Spinal Bone Mineral Density as estimated by Hounsfield Units following Osteoporosis Treatment with Romosozumab, Teriparatide, Denosumab, and Alendronate: An Analysis of 318 Patients

Christine Park

ASA, BMI, and Age Do Not Affect the 90-day Readmission and Emergency Department Utilization Following Full-endoscopic Spine Surgery: A Retrospective Multicenter Study of 787 Patients

Christine Park

Do class III obese patients (BMI >35) achieve similar outcomes and satisfaction following surgery for cervical myelopathy? A QOD Study

Nicholas Rabah

Does the Duration of Preoperative Pain Impact the Surgical Outcome in the Treatment of Lumbar Degenerative Pathologies?

Alexander Schupper

Predictors of Patient Satisfaction in the Surgical Treatment of Cervical Spondylotic Myelopathy

Maryam Shahin

Elective vs Non-Elective Spinal Fusions: Surgical and Financial Outcomes in a Bundled Payment Reimbursement Model

Alan Stein

Lumbar Vertebral Body Tethering: Outcomes and Reoperations in a Consecutive Series of 106 Patients

Pavlos Texakalidis

Supinator to Posterior Interosseous Nerve Transfer for Reconstruction of Digital Extension in Brachial Plexus and Spinal Cord Injury: a Systematic Review and Individual-Patient-Data Meta-analysis

Iyan Younus

In Patients with a Pelvic Incidence-Lumbar Lordosis Within 10° Who Have Mechanical Complications, Does the Roussouly Classification Explain Their Failures?

Timothy Yee

Cost-effectiveness of Posterior/Transforaminal Lumbar Interbody Fusion for Grade 1 Lumbar Spondylolisthesis: A 5-Year QOD Study

Sabrina Zeller

Stem cell therapy in conjunction with curcumin and epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) synergistically enhances recovery from spinal cord injury by altering signaling pathways of mTOR and NF-κB

Justin Zhang

Applications of postoperative diffusion weighted imaging in cervical spondylotic myelopathy after decompressive surgery

2024 Mayfield Clinical Science Award Recipient

Ryan Eaton

Global Sagittal Flexibility Predicts Proximal Junctional Kyphosis after Spinal Deformity Surgery

2024 David Kline Peripheral Nerve Research Award Recipient

Benjamin Johnston

Targeted Peripheral Nerve Delivery of AAV-mediated Gene Therapy for Pain

2024 Christopher I Shaffrey International Travelling Fellow Award Recipient

Ebtesam Abdulla

The Epidemiology, Clinical Presentation, and Treatment Outcomes in Spinal Subdural Abscess: A Systematic Review

2024 Sanford Larson Clinical Research Award Recipients

Isabella Churchill

Diversity of Authors and Participants of Randomized Controlled Trials in High Impact Orthopedic and Neurosurgery Journals: A 20 Year Bibliometric Analysis

Eve Tsai

Diversity of Authors and Participants of Randomized Controlled Trials in High Impact Orthopedic and Neurosurgery Journals: A 20 Year Bibliometric Analysis

2024 Fessler Award Recipient

Sabrina Zeller

Stem cell therapy in conjunction with curcumin and epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) synergistically enhances recovery from spinal cord injury by altering signaling pathways of mTOR and NF-κB

2024 Benzel Research Award Recipient

Nicolas Dea

Cervical Spine Chordomas: Surgical Outcome Assessment in a Multicenter Cohort from the Primary Tumor Research and Outcomes Network (PTRON)

2024 Benzel Spine Surgeon-Scholar Dev Award Recipient

Syed Khalid

Machine Learning-Based Detection of Sarcopenic Obesity and Association with Adverse Outcomes in Patients Undergoing Surgical Treatment for Spinal Metastases

2024 JANE Award Recipient

Samer Zammar

Do Obese Patients Undergoing Surgery for Grade 1 Spondylolisthesis Have Worse outcomes at 5 years Followup? A QOD Study.

2024 Batzdorf Scholar Award Recipients

Aladine Elsamadicy

Risk Factors for Readmission After Suboccipital Decompression for Chiari I Malformation

James Caruso

Clinicoradiographic Predictors of Syrinx Presentation and Outcomes in Pediatric Chiari Malformation Type I/p>

2024 Albert Scholar Award Recipients

Myles Allen

Impact of Age on Outcomes of Decompression Alone Versus Fusion for L4-5 Degenerative Spondylolisthesis

Myles Allen

Outcomes of Minimally Invasive Decompression Alone Versus Fusion in Patients With Predominant Back Pain

Myles Allen

Clinical and Radiological Predictors of Slower and Non-Improvement Following Surgical Treatment of Degenerative Spondylolisthesis

Garrett Berger

Conflating Categories-The Need for Refined Preoperative Risk Stratification

Austin Carroll

Orthopedic Spine Surgery Fellowship Training Experience with the Management of Unintentional Durotomies

Ahmed Doomi

Preoperative Anemia Predicting Length of Stay Following Interlaminar and Transforaminal Lumbar Spine Endoscopic Discectomy

Steven Girdler

Elevated T1 Slope is an independent risk factor for anterior cervical corpectomy subsidence

Takashi Hirase

Normalized Total Psoas Area Predicts Early Postoperative Mobility and Perioperative Complications after Complex Adult Spinal Deformity Surgery

Chuan-ching Huang

Minimally-Invasive Trans-facet Lumbar Interbody Fusion Using A Dual-Dimension Expandable Cage: Preliminary Results of a Multi-Institutional Retrospective Study

Sahir Jabbouri

Surgeon Contoured Versus Pre-Contoured Patient-Specific Rods in Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis: Assessing Global Sagittal Alignment

Youssef Khalafallah

Complications and Risk Factors for Unplanned Intubation/Reintubation in Adult Patients Undergoing Occipitocervical Fusion

Youssef Khalafallah

The 8-Item Modified Frailty Index Is an Effective Risk Assessment Tool in ACDF Surgery

Hannah Levy

Unilateral Versus Bilateral Pedicle Screw Fixation with Anterior Lumbar Interbody Fusion: A Comparison of Postoperative Outcomes

Hannah Levy

Does Interbody Cage Material and Surface Type Effect Transforaminal Lumbar Interbody Fusion Postoperative Outcomes and Fusion Rate

Hannah Levy

Perioperative Change in Bone Quality Following Posterior Cervical Fusion and it’s Effects on Postoperative Outcomes

Ashley MacConnell

Sequential Correction of Sagittal Vertical Alignment and Lumbar Lordosis in Adult Flatback Deformity

Angel Ordaz

Validation of the Oswestry Disability Index in Adult Spinal Deformity

Clifford Pierre

Adjacent segment failure after multilevel-fusion for degenerative or other spinal disorder—is alignment the only reason?

Chad Simon

Clinical outcomes of CDR in patients over 50 year-old

David Sing

Can Titanium Surface Technology Reduce Biologic Costs in Anterior Lumbar Interbody Fusion?

Avani Vaishnav

Commonly used Patient-reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) Do Not Adequately Reflect Patient-perceived Changes in Health Status Following Spine Surgery

Avani Vaishnav

The Effect of Body Mass Index (BMI) on Radiation Exposure in Intra-operative Navigation-guided and Robotic-assisted Minimally Invasive Transforaminal Lumbar Interbody Fusion (MIS-TLIF)

Sree Vemu

Anterior Column Realignment (ACR) for Focal Kyphotic Spinal Deformity Using an Anterior to Psoas Approach and ALL Release

Tyler Williamson

A Parameter Fixed to Poor Outcomes?: A Detailed Analysis of High Pelvic Incidence in Adult Spinal Deformity Surgery