Thomas Mroz, MD, is director of the spine surgery fellowship at Cleveland Clinic as well as a practicing spine surgeon in the departments of orthopedic surgery and neurological surgery and the Center for Spine Health at Cleveland Clinic. He is a member of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, AOSpine North America and Cervical Spine Research Society. He serves on the education committee of the North American Spine Society.
Dr. Mroz has a wide array of clinical interests, including radiculopathy, myelopathy, stenosis, disc herniations, cervical disc replacement, revision cervical surgery, cervical infections, cervical tumors and cervical deformity. He is actively involved in research and has published a number of research articles and textbook chapters. Her serves on the editorial board of The Spine Journal and SpineLine, and he serves as deputy editor for Global Spine Journal.
"We are at an unprecedented juncture in the practice of medicine, and spine surgery, in this country," says Dr. Mroz. "Almost on a daily basis we are challenged to achieve more — better patient communication and satisfaction, better clinical outcomes — with [fewer] resources due to shrinking reimbursements, tighter institutional margins, and so on. Certainly, in the end this will make us, and the delivery of our care, more efficient, and likely our care for common spine pathologies over the next decade will become more uniform and more efficacious. This 'future' is perhaps one of the most appealing aspects of my job as a spine surgeon because it is an opportunity to help shape our collective path forward through translational research, and involvement with our national societies and other stakeholders. The next five to 10 years will be an exceptionally interesting ride. I suspect the landscape in spine surgery will look very different than it does today."
Dr. Mroz earned his medical degree at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland and completed his residency in orthopedic surgery at George Washington University School of Medicine in Washington, D.C. He has completed two fellowships — on in spine surgery at University of California Los Angeles Medical Center and another in neurosurgery at Semmes Murphy Clinic in Memphis, Tenn.
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