William R. Taylor, MD, is the director of spine surgery as well as vice chairman of the division of neurological surgery at the University of California, San Diego. He joined the faculty at UC San Diego in 1994. He is a member of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons, American Association of Neurological Surgeons and North American Spine Society. He has won numerous awards during his career, including the Golden Scalpel Award for Teaching Excellence at the UCSD Neurological Resident Presentation in 2010 and the Leo M. Davidhoff Award for Outstanding Neurosurgical Teaching.
Dr. Taylor is board-certified and focuses on the neurological evaluation and treatment of spinal disorders. He has a professional interest in endoscopic surgery for disc disease as well as minimally invasive spine surgery. He also uses spinal instrumentation whenever necessary. Using minimally invasive spine surgery to correct adult scoliosis has become a prime area of interest for Dr Taylor, while advancing the training and education of surgeons with the Society for Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery. His work has been published widely in peer-reviewed journals, such as Neurosurgery and Journal of Spinal Disorders & Techniques.
"The best opportunity for spine surgeons in the coming year is minimally invasive spine surgery," says Dr. Taylor. "It is also going to become extremely important to document outcomes. Spine surgery has a reputation of being a last resort, but if we look at data, spine surgery compares very favorably to hip and knee replacements. We need to continue to document that so that people know that spine surgery can be a good option. The field is every growing and expanding. The opportunity to participate in the advancement of the field is exciting to me."
Dr. Taylor earned his medical degree at University of California Los Angeles and completed his residency at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City. He has also completed a spine fellowship at Columbia University New York City.
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