In Wichita Falls, Texas in 1971, two general medical officers — Stephen Hochschuler, MD, and Ralph Rashbaum, MD — met each other for the first time while stationed in the U.S. Air Force. 

Mick Perez-Cruet, MD, is vice chairman, professor and director of the minimally invasive spine surgery and spine program in the department of neurological surgery at the Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine.

Raymond Hah, MD, is an assistant professor of orthopedic surgery at Los Angeles-based Keck School of Medicine of USC. He focuses his practice on minimally invasive spine surgical techniques.

Roger Hartl, MD, is a professor of neurological surgery and director of spine surgery at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City. He is also director of the Weill Cornell Medicine Center for Comprehensive Spine Care.

Peter Derman, MD, is a surgeon at Plano-based Texas Back Institute.

Technology in the spine field is evolving, and surgeons are reshaping their practices to keep up.

Daniel Penello, MD, successfully implanted a custom 3D-printed finger bone in an iron worker, Robert Smith, who was facing amputation after a heavy steel beam crushed his finger.

Kristopher Kimmell, MD, is a neurosurgeon in Rochester, N.Y., with a practice focused on minimally invasive spine surgery, traumatic brain injury, brain tumors and other spinal procedures.

Thomas Loftus, MD, founder of the Austin (Texas) Neurosurgical Institute, has spent his career focused on complex minimally invasive spine surgery.

Fabien Bitan, MD, a spine surgery chief at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, successfully performed an M6 artificial cervical disc replacement surgery on a 29-year-old woman.

Ashutosh Pradhan, MD, is the chief of neurosurgery at Ascension St. Vincent's Riverside, a 528-bed hospital based in Jacksonville, Fla.

Kevin Foley, MD, is the chairman of Semmes Murphey Clinic and director of complex spine surgery at Semmes Murphey in Memphis, Tenn.

Dale Horne, MD, a Cincinnati-based neurosurgeon, began using spinal robotic technology in 2007 and hasn't looked back.

Gregory Lekovic, MD, is the medical director of the spine surgery program at California Hospital and Medical Center as well as a surgeon with House Clinic in Los Angeles.

Mark Bilsky, MD, is the William E. Snee Endowed Chair and vice chairman of clinical affairs for neurosurgery at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.

Jason Huang, MD, is chair of the department of neurosurgery at Baylor Scott & White Medical Center in Temple, Texas.

Robert Brady, MD, is an orthopedic surgeon and spine specialist at Norwalk (Conn.) Hospital and part of Danbury-based OrthoConnecticut.

The Center for Spine Health at Providence, R.I.-based University Orthopedics added Dominic Thomas Kleinhenz, MD, to its medical staff.

Orthopedic spine surgeon Stephen Hochschuler, MD, is co-founder of Texas Back Institute in Plano and chairman of the Texas Back Institute Holdings Corporation. Dr. Hochschuler stopped operating two years ago but is still very much involved in the spine field.

Christopher Kager, MD, is a neurosurgeon with Lancaster (Pa.) NeuroScience & Spine Associates and chief, division of neurosurgery at Lancaster (Pa.) General Hospital of Lancaster General Health Physicians NeuroScience & Spine Associates.