More than 80 spine surgeons moved to new practices and/or added to their titles in 2025.
Note: This is not an exhaustive list. This list was updated Dec. 8. To add a surgeon to this list, please email Carly Behm (cbehm@beckershealthcare.com).
January
Hall of Fame Health formed a spine advisory board with:
Drew Dossett, MD
Will Hotchkiss, MD
Patrick Johnson, MD
Paul Kim, MD
Ron Lehman Jr., MD
Fred Marciano, MD
John Small, MD
2. Medcura, a hemostatic devicemaker, formed a Spinal Surgery Advisory Board with:
Adedayo Ashana, MD
Barrett Boody, MD
Bryan Cunningham, PhD
Peter Grossi, MD
Serena Hu, MD
Jun Kim, MD
Paul McAfee, MD
Kornelis Poelstra, MD, PhD
Nicholas Theodore, MD
Alexander Vaccaro, MD, PhD
3. Neurosurgeon Stephen Johnson, MD, joined Morristown, N.J.-based Atlantic Brain and Spine.
4. Scott Lewis, MD, joined EmergeOrtho-Triangle Region’s Wilson, N.C., location.
February
1. Randolph Bishop, MD, joined The Summit Institute for Orthopedics, Spine and Human Movement in Hutchinson, Kan.
2. Kenneth Hood, DO, joined Amherst, N.Y.-based Excelsior Orthopaedics.
3. Andrew Lee, MD, joined Roseville, Calif.-based Adventist Health.
March
1. Mercy Health Springfield (Ohio) Neurosurgery added Neal Mehan, MD, to its staff.
2. Oswego Health Medical Practice added Raman Dhawan, MD.
3. Waconia, Minn.-based Ridgeview has added Robert Brenner, MD, to its medical staff.
4. Venita Simpson, MD, a spine fellowship-trained neurosurgeon, is joiningDallas-based UT Southwestern Medical Center and Texas Health Presbyterian Dallas.
6. Grand Island, Neb.-based CHI Health Clinic Neurosurgery added neurosurgeon Lynn Mubita, MD.
7. Neurosurgeon Alan Chiang, MD, joined the board of directors for clinical-stage medical biotechnology company NeOnc Technologies Holdings.
8. Neurological spine surgeon David Yam, MD, joined the Spine Center at Prosser Memorial Health in Walla Walla, Wash.9. Charleston-based Medical University of South Carolina added spinal neurosurgeon Patrick Jowdy, MD.
April
1. Cohere Health added spine surgeon Paul Johnson, MD, to its medical advisory board.
2. Frances Hardaway, MD, joined Florence, S.C.-based McLeod Health.
3. Michael Finn, MD, joined Midwest Brain & Spine Institute in Stillwater, Minn.
4. Hilary Onyiuke, MD, founder of the UConn Health Comprehensive Spine Center and vice chair of University of Connecticut’s department of neurosurgery, joined Augmedics’ national technical board.
5. Baron Lonner, MD, joined New York City-based Spine Associates of NYC.
May
1. Brett Simpson, MD, joined Tennova Neurosurgery – Clarksville in Tennessee.
2. Sander Connolly, Jr., MD, is the new president of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons.
3. Total Spine and Orthopedics in Melbourne, Fla., added Scott Glickman, DO.
4. Montrose (Colo.) Regional Health added Rasheed Abiola, MD.
June
1. SynerFuse named neurosurgeon Michael Park, MD, PhD, as its chief technology officer.
2. Justin Ledesma, MD, joined Spine Medicine and Surgery of Long Island in Ronkonkoma, N.Y.
3. Mousa Hamad, MD, joined Maxim Brain and Spine in Cedar Knolls, N.J.
4. Ron Chatterjee, MD, of Tampa, Fla.-based Joseph Spine Institute, was named to the NFL-NFLPA Joint Pain Management Committee.
5. Norwalk (Conn.) Hospital, an affiliate of Elite Brain & Spine of Connecticut in Danbury, named Joshua Marcus, MD, as chief of neurosurgery.
6. Spinal neurosurgeon Allan Levi, MD, PhD, was named as the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine’s Mary M. and Sash A. Spencer Endowed Chair in Neurological Surgery.
7. SGMC Health in Valdosta, Ga., added neurosurgeon Shahin Etebar, MD.
July
1. Muhammad Abd-El-Barr, MD, PhD, began the role of president of the North Carolina Spine Society.
2. OrthoAlliance named Paul Eichenseer, DO, as the organization’s first chief physician officer.
3. Spinal neurosurgeon Gustavo Anton, DO, joined Lake Cumberland Regional Hospital in Somerset, Ky.
4. Zacharia Pinter, MD, joined The Orthopedic Partners in Park City, Utah.
5. Jaime Gomez, MD, joined Nicklaus Children’s Orthopedics, Sports Medicine and Spine Institute in Miami.
6. UP Health System – Marquette (Mich.) added Nathan Esplin, MD, to its Brain and Spine Center.
7. Titus Regional Medical Center in Mount Pleasant, Texas, opened Advanced Spine Care at Titus and added Marcus Smith, MD.
8. Ocutrx Technologies added neurosurgeon Robert Louis, MD, to its scientific advisory board.
9. Shaleen Vira, MD, was appointed chief of orthopedic spine surgery at Phoenix-based Banner Health’s University Medical Center.
10. Peter Derman, MD, joined the medical advisory board at Metamorphosis, an artificial intelligence company focused on robotic surgery.
11. Neurosurgeon Michael Fromke, MD, joined HCA Florida Kendall Hospital in Miami.
12. MarkMina Ishak, DO, joined Highpoint Orthopedics and Neurosurgery with Ascension Saint Thomas in Gallatin, Tenn.
August
1. Dallas-based AOA Orthopedic Specialists, part of United Musculoskeletal Partners, added spine surgeon Timothy Choi, MD.
2. Ridgeview Spine and Pain Center in Waconia, Minn., added Vamsy Bobba, MD.
3. Denver-based Orthopedic Centers of Colorado added Erisha Tashakori, MD.
4. Long Beach (Calif.) Medical Center launched a new Back & Neck Health Center, and Andrew Hanna, DO, is medical director of the new facility.
5. Bloomfield, Conn.-based Advanced Orthopedics New England has added spine surgeon Alex Ha, MD.
6. East Providence, R.I.-based University Orthopedics added Christopher McDonald, MD, to its Center for Spine Health.
7. Titus Regional Medical Center in Mount Pleasant, Texas, added Marcus Smith, MD.
September
1. Lewes, Del.-based Beebe Healthcare has added spine surgeon Nicholas Minissale, DO.
2. Ilya Gutman, MD, joined Birmingham-based OrthoAlabama Spine & Sports on Sept. 2.
3. Latham, N.Y.-based St. Peter’s Health Partners Medical Associates added Sam Doyle, M.D., to its St. Peter’s Sports and Spine practice.
4. Fresno, Calif.-based Sierra Pacific Orthopedics added spine surgeon Devan Higginbotham, MD.
5. The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock added spine surgeon Mark Ferger, MD, PhD.
6. Spine surgeon Bradley Gelfand, MD, joined The Centers for Advanced Orthopaedics in Bethesda, Md.
7. Adventist Health Physicians Network added spine surgeon Dora Pelletier, MD.
8. Goodman Campbell Brain and Spine in Carmel, Ind., added Bryan Schatmeyer, MD.
9. Florence, S.C.-based McLeod Health added spinal neurosurgeon Miranda Hayworth, MD.
10. Terre Haute, Ind.-based Union Health’s Goodman Campbell Brain and Spine has added Josue Diaz Ordaz, MD.
11. Morristown, N.J.-based Atlantic Brain and Spine has added orthopedic spine surgeon Farah Musharbash, MD.
October
1. Alvin Chan, MD; Casey Slattery, MD, and Kushagra Verma, MD, joined Irvine, Calif.-based Hoag Orthopedic Institute.
2. AdventHealth Medical Group added spinal neurosurgeon Seong-Jin Moon, MD.
3. The University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix has appointed Nicholas Theodore, MD, as chair of the Department of Neurosurgery at Banner – University Medical Center Phoenix.
4. Kevin McCracken, MD, joined Albany, N.Y.-based St. Peter’s Orthopedics, a practice of St. Peter’s Health Partners Medical Associates.
November
1. Spine surgeon Tenner Guillaume, MD, of St. Paul, Minn.-based Gillette Children’s Hospital, was appointed to SMAIO’s scientific advisory board.
2. Christopher Michel, MD, joined The Centers for Advanced Orthopaedics’ Parkway Division in Hagerstown, Md.
3. Memorial Neuroscience Institute in Hollywood, Fla., added Michael Kader, MD.
4. William Mitchell, MD, is the new president of the North American Spine Society.
