Past Charlie Kuntz Scholar Award Recipients

2022 Charlie Kuntz Scholar Award Recipients

Hasan Ahmad

Smartphone-Based Accelerometry for Classification of Peri-Operative Course and Outcomes in Spine Surgery

Ahmed Albayar

Repairing the Injured Rodent Spinal Cord Using Sensory and Motor Micro-tissue Engineered Neural Networks

Ammar Alsalahi

Does Laminectomy Width Predict Postop C5 Palsy After Posterior Cervical Decompression Fusion: A Comparative Cohort Study

Vikram Chakravarthy

Separation Surgery and Adjuvant Stereotactic Radiation for Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Analysis of 103 Cases

Andrew Chan

Is the CMS Hierarchical Condition Category Risk Adjustment Model Satisfactory for Quantifying Spine Surgical Risk?

Sai Chilakapati

Cognitive Impairment is Associated with Higher Rates of Postoperative Complications After Spine Surgery

Pravesh Gadjradj

Cost Effectiveness of Full-endoscopic Discectomy vs. Microdiscectomy for Sciatica: a RCT with 24 month follow-up

Jacob Goldberg

Improvement in Resident Performance for Minimally-Invasive Lumbar Decompression Using a State-of-the-Art Simulator

Travis Hamilton

Application of Machine Learning for a Prediction Model for Patient Reported Outcomes After lumbar surgery: A MSSIC Study

Kevin Huang

Creating a Spine Healthcare Resource Utilization Scale (SHRUS) to Complement PROMs in Assessing Surgical Success

Michael Lawless II

Cervical Alignment and Patient-Reported Outcomes in Posterior Cervical Fusion: A Longitudinal Comparative Cohort Study

Robert McCabe

Preventing Surgical Site Hematoma with Topical Tranexamic Acid in Lumbosacral Surgery: A Quality Improvement Project

Giorgos Michalopoulos

Comparing Posterior Cervical Foraminotomy with ACDF in Radiculopathic Patients: An Analysis from the QOD

Anthony Mikula

Lower Hounsfield Units Are Associated with Proximal Junctional Kyphosis and Failure at the Upper Thoracic Spine

Jose Orenday

Systemic Antibiotic Management after Spine Surgery: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Alp Ozpinar

ASD Patient Outcomes Planned for a Two-staged Scoliosis Correction: A Case for Standalone Anterolateral MIS Fusion

Paul Page

Development and Validation of a Predictive Model for Failure of Medical Management in Spinal Epidural Abscesses

Zachariah Pinter

Favorable Prognosis for Significant Preoperative Upper Extremity Weakness Following ACDF

Yamaan Saadeh

Timing of Nerve Transfer Surgery for C5 Palsy: Does Recovery at 6 Months Predict Final Recovery?

Saman Shabani

The Rates of Proximal Junctional Kyphosis After L4 Versus L3 Pedicle Subtraction Osteotomies

2021 Charlie Kuntz Scholar Award Recipients

Owoicho Adogwa

Decisional Regret Among Older Adults Undergoing Corrective Surgery for Adult Spinal Deformity

Khaled Alok

The Effects of Connexin Inhibitors on the Outcomes of a Porcine Spinal Cord Injury Model

Safwan Alomari

Outcomes of Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion Correlate with the Specialty of the Surgeon Performing the Procedure

John Burke

Injury Volume Extracted from MRI Predicts Neurologic Outcome in Acute SCI: A Prospective TRACK-SCI Pilot Study

Chad Claus

Effect of Morbid Obesity on Complications, Readmission, and PROs after MIS TLIF: An Inverse Propensity Score Analysis

Islam Fayed

Single Position Lateral Lumbar Fusion with Robot-assisted Pedicle Screws: Analysis and Comparison to Prone Screws

Daryl Fields

Surgical Timing of TLICS 4 Fractures Impacts Long-term Pain Outcomes

Yaroslav Gelfand

Comparison of C5 Palsy Incidence in Laminectomy and Fusion Versus Laminoplasty

Dayton Grogan

Use of the Relative Citation Ratio as a Measure of Academic Neurological Spine Surgeon Productivity

Nikita Lakomkin

Abaloparatide Increases Bone Mineral Density in Potential Spine Surgery Candidates with Osteoporosis

Seokchun Lim

Risk Factors for Not Reaching MCID at 90 days and 1 year after Elective Lumbar Spine Surgery

Daniel Lubelski

Dorsal Root Entry Zone Lesioning for Chronic Neuropathic Pain Secondary to Brachial Plexus Avulsion

Anthony Mikula

Lower Hounsfield Units at the Upper Instrumented Vertebrae are Associated with Proximal Junctional Kyphosis and Failure

Ali Moghaddamjou

Spontaneous Recovery in Patients with an ASIA A Spinal Cord Injury: Analysis of Multicentre Data in 943 Cases

Whitney Muhlestein

Non-surgical Management of Shoulder Subluxation after Nerve Reconstruction for Neonatal Brachial Plexus Palsy

Daniel Myers

Characterization of Intervertebral Disc Inflammation Following Discectomy for Treatment of Lumbar Disc Herniation

Zach Pennington

Surgical Approaches to Tumors of the Occipito-cervical, Subaxial Cervical, and Cervicothoracic Spine

Brandon Sherrod

Differences between Anterior and Posterior Approaches for Treatment of Cervical Spondylotic Myelopathy

Tolga Sursal

Involvement of mTOR Pathway Modulates Autophagy and Immune Response in Recovery from Spinal Cord Injury

Timothy Wang

Rate of Pseudarthrosis Following Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion using Allograft Cellular Bone Matrix

Yagiz Yolcu

Carbon Ion Radiotherapy for Sacral Chordomas: An Institutional/National Comparison of Outcomes with Surgery and RT

2020 Charlie Kuntz Scholar Award Recipients

Oliver Ayling

Patient Reported Outcomes for Lumbar Spinal Stenosis: Comparison of a Universal and Multitier Health Care System

John Burke

Ultra-Early Surgery (<12 hrs) Correlates with Improvement in Motor Recovery after Spinal Cord Injury: A TRACK-SCI Study

Andrew Chan

Decompression and Fusion Versus Decompression Alone for Grade I Degenerative Lumbar Spondylolisthesis

Ken Chang

Radiological and Clinical Outcomes of Three-level Cervical Disc Arthroplasty

Lee Chieng

Does Spinopelvic Parameters Matter in Short-Segment Posterior Lumbar Spinal Fusion? A Meta- Analysis

Samuel Farber

Long-Term Radiographic Outcomes in Patients Undergoing Four and Five Level ACDF Without Posterior Supplementation

Nida Fatima

Development of Predictive Model for 30-days Complications Following Posterior Cervical Fusion

Yaroslav Gelfand

Effect of Cage Type on Radiographic Outcomes in TLIF

Jakub Godzik

High Radiation Burden of Minimally Invasive Approaches to Adult Spinal Deformity

Jacob Hoffman

The Association of Preoperative Narxcheck Scores and Perioperative Outcomes in Posterior Cervical Surgery Patients

Anshit Goyal

Impact of Opioid Prescribing Guidelines on Postoperative Narcotic Prescriptions Following Elective Spine Surgery

Michael Karsy

Outcomes and Complications with Age in Spondylolisthesis: An Evaluation from the Quality Outcomes Database

Mena Kerolus

An ERAS Pathway Following Single-level MIS TLIF Significantly Decreases LOS

Darryl Lau

Multiple Rod Constructs and use of BMP2 Results in Lower Rod Fracture Following Lumbar Pedicle Subtraction Osteotomy

Allan Martin

The Natural History of Degenerative Cervical Myelopathy: An Ambispective Longitudinal Cohort Study

Anthony Mikula

Patients with Bilateral Sacroiliac Joint Vacuum Sign have a Change in Pelvic Incidence between Supine and Standing

Nikhil Murthy

Could Botulinum Toxin Pre-conditioning be an Ancillary Therapy to Improve Motor Nerve Transfer Surgery?

Harry Mushlin

The Effect of Elevated Mean Arterial Blood Pressure in Cervical Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury with Hemorrhagic Contusion

Roberto Perez Roman

The Risk of Peripheral Nerve Tumor Biopsy in Suspected Benign Etiologies

Checai Wang

Characterizing Cortical Plasticity of Patient with Cervical Spondylosis Associated with Neck Pain

Michael Yang

Development and Validation of a Prediction Score for Poor Postoperative Pain Control Following Elective Spine Surgery

2019 Charlie Kuntz Scholar Award Recipients

Owoicho Adogwa

Long Term Costs of Maximum Non-Operative Treatments in Patients with Symptomatic Lumbar Stenosis or Spondylolisthesis that Ultimately Required Surgery: A Five Year Costs Analysis

Mohammed Alvi

Assessing the Differences in Characteristics of Patients Lost to Follow-up at 2 years: Results from the Multi-Site Quality Outcomes Database (QOD) Study of Impact of Fusion on Outcomes of Grade 1 Spondylolisthesis

Oliver Ayling

The Effect of Peri-Operative Adverse Events on Long-term Patient Reported Outcomes after Lumbar Spine Surgery

Andrew Chan

Utility of Crossing the Cervicothoracic Junction During Laminectomy and Posterior Spinal Fusion Surgery for Cervical Spondylotic Myelopathy

Islam Fayed

Posterior Cervical Fusion: Analysis of Revision Rate Related to Crossing the Cervicothoracic Junction

Shashank Gandhi

Surgery for Potentially Unstable Spinal Metastasis Reduces 90-Day-Admissions

Jack Haglin

An Analysis of Medicare Reimbursement Rates in Spine Surgery: 2000–2018

Allen Ho

Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS): Implementation in Posterior Lumbar Fusion Surgery

Sertac Kirnaz

Retrospective Review of Immediate Restoration of Lordosis in Single-level Minimally Invasive Transforaminal Lumbar Interbody Fusion (MI-TLIF): A Comparison of Static and Expandable Interbody Cages

Mohamed Macki

Drivers of Episode Payments for Non-Cervical Spinal Fusion

Anthony Mikula

Teriparatide Treatment Improves Bone Quality in the Lumbar Spine Out of Proportion to DEXA Changes

Aria Nouri

The Influence of Cervical Spondylolisthesis on Clinical Presentation and Surgical Outcome in Patients with Degenerative Cervical Myelopathy: Analysis of a Multicenter Global Cohort of 458 Patients

Zachary Sanford

Analysis of the Hierarchical Condition Category (HCC) Score as a Predictor for Increased Risk for Complication and Resource Utilization Following Spine Surgeries

Allison Teles

Burnout and Quality of Life in Spine Surgeons: Results of a Worldwide Survey

Zoe Teton

Use of Polyetheretherketone Interbody Devices for Multi-Level Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion Results in a Three-Fold Higher Rate of Pseudarthrosis Compared to Structural Allograft

Jamie Wilson

The Impact of Older Age on Functional Recovery after Surgical Decompression for Degenerative Cervical Myelopathy: Results from an International, Multicentre, Prospective Dataset in 757 patients.

Michael Yang

Residual Exposed Endplate Predicts High Grade Heterotopic Ossification in Cervical Disc Arthroplasty

Hesham Zakaria

Ambulation on POD#0 is Associated with Decreased Adverse Events After Elective Lumbar Spine Surgery: Analysis of the Michigan Spine Surgery Improvement Collaborative (MSSIC)

Scott Zuckerman

Which patients undergoing ACDF are most appropriate for an ambulatory surgery center? A pilot study

2018 Charlie Kuntz Scholar Award Recipients

Yi-Ren Chen

Patient Satisfaction and Press Ganey Scores for Spine versus Non-Spine Neurosurgery Clinics

Lee Chieng

Preoperative Narcotic Consumption – Does It Affect Outcome?

Michael Cloney

Factors Associated with Venous Thromboembolic Events in Spine Surgery Patients in the Intensive Care Setting: A Single-Institution Experience with 1269 Consecutive Patients

Shashank Gandhi

Development of Proximal Junctional Kyphosis After Minimally Invasive Lateral Anterior Column Realignment for Adult Spinal Deformity

Jakub Godzik

Decreasing Radiation Exposure in Minimally Invasive Spinal Surgery with Ultra-Low Radiation Imaging and Image Enhancement: A Prospective Cohort Study of Consecutive Patients

Jian Guan

Preliminary Return to Work Data from the Multi-Center Prospective, Randomized CSM-S Study: Approach Matters

Allen Ho

Analysis of Outcomes and Cost of Inpatient and Ambulatory Anterior Cervical Disk Replacement Using a State-level Database

Ibrahim Hussain

Mesenchymal Stem Cell-Seeded High-Density Collagen Gel for Annular Repair: 6 Week Results from in Vivo Sheep Models

Katie Krause

Use of Polyetheretherketone Interbody Devices for One-level Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion Results in a Five-fold Higher Rate of Pseudarthrosis Compared to Structural Allograft

Darryl Lau

The Applicability of Cervical Sagittal Vertical Axis, Lordosis, and T1-slope on Pain and Disability Outcomes after Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion

 

Jay Nathan

Early Kyphoplasty is Associated with Reduced Risk of Persistent Opioid Prescribing for Nearly 12,000 Privately- Insured Patients with Osteoporotic Vertebral Fractures

Tianyi Niu

Electrical neuromodulation of the cervical spinal cord facilitates forelimb skilled function recovery in spinal cord injured rats

Imran Noorani

Genome-Wide Transposon Mutagenesis Screening Identifies Novel Genetic Drivers and Oncogenic Networks in Spinal Gliomas

Eric Sankey

Development of a Frailty Index for Primary Spinal Tumors

Ganesh Shankar

Modern Targeted Adjuvant Therapies Improves Postoperative Outcomes in Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma to the Spine

Corey Walker

Implementation of a Standardized Multimodal Analgesia Protocol Improves Pain-related Outcomes, Decreases Hospital Stay and Reduces Opioid Consumption After Posterior Lumbar Spinal Fusion Surgery

Vijay Yanamadala

Misdiagnosis is a Prevalent Cause of Inappropriate Lumbar Spine Surgery

Juneyoung Yi

Effect of Body Mass Index as a Continuous Variable on 30-Day Postoperative Complications in Posterior Lumbar Fusion: An Analysis of the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program

Hesham Zakaria

Patient Demographic Factors Which Affect Patient Reported Outcomes (PRO) Completion 1 Year After Spine Surgery: Analysis from the Michigan Spine Surgery Improvement Collaborative (MSSIC)

2017 Charlie Kuntz Scholar Award Recipients

Vincent Alentado

Predictors for Obtaining a Postoperative Improvement Over the Minimum Clinically Important Difference After Lumbar Decompression Surgery

Michael Cloney

The Effect of Steroids on Complications, Readmission, and Reoperation After Posterior Lumbar Spinal Fusion: An Analysis of 8492 Patients Using the ACS-NSQIP Database

Doniel Drazin

Vitamin D in Multi-level Anterior Cervical Fusion: Interim Results from a Multi-Center Comparative Effectiveness Study

Benjamin Elder

Comparing the Efficacy of Adipose-Derived vs. Bone Marrow-Derived Stem Cells in Combination with a Clinical- Grade Bone Graft Substitute in a Rat Model of Spinal Fusion

Rory Goodwin

Development of a Preoperative Metastatic Spinal Tumor Frailty Index (MSTFI) Using a Nationwide Database and Its Association with Inpatient Morbidity, Mortality, and Length of Stay

George Ghobrial

Preoperative Skin Antisepsis with Chlorhexidine Gluconate Versus Povidone-Iodine: A Prospective Analysis of 6959 Consecutive Spinal Surgery Patients

Peter Grunert

Biomechanical Evaluation of Lumbar Decompression Adjacent to Instrumented Segments

Daipayan Guha

Optical Topographic Imaging for Intra-Operative Three-Dimensional Navigation in the Cervical Spine: Accuracy Validation and Initial Clinical Feasibility

Ibrahim Hussain

Patient-Reported Outcomes After Surgical Stabilization of Spinal Tumors: Symptom-Based Validation of the Spinal Instability Neoplastic Score (SINS) and Surgery

Christian Iorio-Morin

Quality of Life After Spinal Cord Injury—Results from a Canadian National Cross-sectional Survey

Michael Karsy

The Functional, Histologic and Electrophysiologic Outcomes After Rapid-Stretch Nerve Injury

Evan Lytle

Minimally Effective Dose of Bone Morphogenetic Protein (BMP) in Minimally Invasive (MIS) Lumbar Interbody Fusions 757 Patients in a Dose-finding Statistical Modeling Cohort Study

Allan Martin

Quantitative Multi-Parametric Spinal Cord MRI Detects Subclinical Tissue Injury in Asymptomatic Cervical Spinal Cord Compression

Meghan Murphy

Allograft Versus Autograft: A Comparison of Postoperative Morbidity in Spinal Fusions Using the ACS-NSQIP Registry

Aria Nouri

Congenital Cervical Spine Stenosis in a Global Cohort of Patients with Degenerative Cervical Myelopathy: A Report Based on a MRI Diagnostic Criterion

Vijay Ravindra

Laminoplasty vs. Laminectomy-Fusion for the Treatment of Cervical Myelopathy: Preliminary Results from the CSM-Study Comparing Cervical Sagittal Alignment and Clinical Outcomes

Ahilan Sivaganesan

The Inescapability of Variation in Outcomes After Lumbar Spine Surgery: Insights from the National Neurosurgery Quality and Outcomes Database

Vijay Yanamadala

Multidisciplinary Evaluation Leads to the Decreased Utilization of Lumbar Spine Fusion: An Observational Cohort Pilot Study

Michael Yang

Radiological Predictors of Kyphosis After Thoracolumbar Burst Fractures Managed Using Thoracolumbarsacral Orthosis and Long-term Follow-up of Outcomes

Scott Zuckerman

Outcomes of Surgery For Sacral Chordoma and Impact of Complications: A Report of 50 Consecutive Patients with Long- term Follow-up

2016 Charlie Kuntz Scholar Award Recipients

Nitin Agarwal

Early Post–operative Outcomes for Elderly Patients Undergoing Single Level Decompression for Lumbar Disk Herniation

Andrew Chan

Rate of Peri–operative Neurological Complications After Surgery for Cervical Spinal Cord Stimulation

Ekamjeet Dhillon

Timing and Risks of Chemoprophylaxis Following Spinal Surgery: A Single Center Experience with 6870 Patients

Doniel Drazin

Spine Surgery in Octogenarians: Analysis of 14,108 Patients in the MarketScan Longitudinal Database

Benjamin Elder

The Effects of High–dose Parathyroid Hormone (1-34) on Posterolateral Lumbar Spinal Fusion in a Rabbit Model

Gurpreet Gandhoke

Predictive Value of Intraoperative Neurophysiological Monitoring During Spine Surgery: A Prospective Analysis of 4489 Consecutive Patients

Ezequiel Goldschmidt

The Effect of Vancomycin Powder on Human Dural Fibroblast Culture and Its Implications for Dural Repair After Spine Surgery

Randall Graham

Cranial Center of Mass Alignment May Influence Proximal Junctional Kyphosis in the Setting of Normal Sagittal Vertical Axis

Kiyoshi Ito

Utility of Nonpenetrating Titanium Clips for Dural Closure During Spinal Surgery to Prevent Postoperative Cerebrospinal Fluid Leakage

Ricky Kalra

Intraoperative O–arm® Imaging Versus Stimulus– evoked Electromyography for Evaluation of Pedicle Screw Breaches: A Prospective Study of 1006 Screws in 164 Cases

Darryl Lau

Comparison of Outcomes Following Laminoplasty Versus Laminectomy with Posterior Spinal Fusion for Cervical Spondylotic Myelopathy: Matched Cohorts of Regional Sagittal Balance

Rory Mayer

C5 Palsy After Cervical Decompression: Socioeconomic Cost Analysis and Implications for Treatment

Marcus Mazur

Symptomatic Adjacent Segment Degeneration After Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion: A Long–term MRI Analysis

Michael Mcdowell

Progressive Improvement in Sagittal Balance Following Surgical Correction of Adult Spinal Deformity

Catherine Miller

Integrating Business and Medicine: Cost Analysis of Spinal Fusions at the University of Minnesota

Nelson Moussazadeh

Epigenetic Profiling Reveals a Unique Histone Code in Chordoma

Rory Murphy

Diffusion Basis Spectrum Imaging Detects and Differentiates Axonal and Myelin Injury From Inflammation in Spinal Cord Injury

Tianyi Niu

Aquaporin–1 Expression in Herniated Human Lumbar Intervertebral Discs

Aria Nouri

The Relationship Between Preoperative Clinical Presentation and Quantitative MRI Features in Patients with Degenerative Cervical Myelopathy

Alp Ozpinar

Does Side Matter: Correction, Outcomes and Complications When Approaching the Lateral Curve via the Concavity or Convexity in Adult Degenerative Scoliosis

Brenton Pennicooke

Annular Repair Using High–density Collagen Gel Seeded with Fibrochondrocytes in a Rat Model

Kavelin Rumalla

Spinal Fusion for Pediatric Spondylolisthesis: National Trends, Complications, and Short–term Outcomes

David Salvetti

Prospective Series Analyzing Preoperative Prealbumin Levels and Risk of Postoperative Surgical Site Infection

Hesham Soliman

Diffusion Tensor Imaging in a Large Series of CSM Patients Correlates with Long–term Functional Outcome

Zachary Tempel

Graft Subsidence as a Predictor of Revision Surgery Following Stand–alone Lateral Lumbar Interbody Fusion

Alexandar Tuchman

An In Vitro Biomechanical Model of Segmental Thoracic Fixation for Spinal Deformity Correction

Anand Veeravagu

The Development of a Novel Risk Assessment Algorithm for Adverse Event Prediction in Spine Surgery

Todd Vogel

Risk factors for 30–day Re–operation and 90–day Readmission: Analysis from the National Neurosurgery Quality and Outcomes Database Lumbar Spine Registry