Editorial Board: JNS: Spine

Editorial Boards members are selected by a vote undertaken by standing members of each journal’s Editorial Board. Members serve approximately 5 years, advancing to the position of Co-Chair, and then to Sr. Chair in their final year. Editorial Board members usually review 100+ manuscripts per year; this number increases to nearly 250 manuscripts during their year as Co-Chair. In their final year as Sr. Chair, board members triage all new submissions and make final recommendations with the oversight of the EIC.

Dean Chou

Dr. Dean Chou is Professor and Vice Chair at the Columbia University Department of Neurosurgery. He is the Chief of the Spine Division and the Spine Fellowship Director for Neurosurgery. He collaboratively works in a combined Orthopedics/Neurosurgery spine unit at the Och Spine New York Presbyterian Hospital. He serves on various committees withing organized spine surgery, and he also serves on multiple editorial boards of both spinal and neurosurgery journals. His research interests lie in evaluating spinal surgery outcomes via multi-center study groups that integrate both neurosurgery and orthopedics. Prior to joining Columbia, he was Professor of Neurosurgery and Orthopedics at the University of California San Francisco. He has a clinical interest in the entire spectrum of spinal conditions, and he has both an open and minimally invasive practice. Dr. Chou was elected to the editorial board of the Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine in 2019.

Charles Sansur

Dr. Sansur is an Associate Professor and Director of Spine Surgery at the University of Maryland, Department of Neurosurgery. Dr. Sansur completed his neurosurgery residency and spine fellowship at UVA and joined the faculty at the University of Maryland in 2009. Dr. Sansur received his MD from the University of Maryland and MHSc from Duke University. He spent a year at NIH studying syringomyelia.

Dr. Sansur has expertise in deformity, arthroplasty, robotics, sacroiliac joint disease, and syringomyelia. He has authored numerous peer-reviewed articles and book chapters. He is an active member of the executive committee for the AANS/CNS Spine Section. He is frequently asked to lecture at various national meetings.

Dr. Sansur served on the editorial board of the European Spine Journal and was elected to the editorial board of the Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine in 2019.

Justin Smith

Dr. Justin Smith completed the MD/PhD program at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. He subsequently completed his neurosurgery residency at the University of California at San Francisco and spine surgery fellowships in the areas of spinal deformity and minimally invasive spine surgery. He is currently Harrison Distinguished Professor and Chief of the Spine Division in the Department of Neurological Surgery at the University of Virginia and serves as Director of the Spine Fellowship Program and Co-Director of the UVA Spine Center.

Dr. Smith’s practice is focused on spinal surgery and includes cervical and thoracolumbar deformity reconstruction, trauma, degenerative disease, and complex revision surgery. His research interests focus on clinical outcomes of spinal surgery, and he has published extensively in this and other areas, with more than 400 peer-reviewed manuscripts and approximately 1,200 presented abstracts at national and international meetings. Dr. Smith was elected to the editorial board of the Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine in 2019.

Luis Manuel Tumialán

After graduating from Georgetown University, Dr. Luis M. Tumialán began his medical career in the United States Navy. Upon completion of his surgical internship, he completed Undersea Medical Officer training and U.S. Navy Dive School and was assigned as the Dive Medical Officer for Naval Special Warfare Unit One in Guam. There he served in support of naval operations in the South Pacific and Southeast Asia during the Global War on Terror. After his overseas service, he completed his neurosurgery residency at Emory University and returned to the Navy as a neurosurgeon in San Diego. He practices in Phoenix, Arizona, with an emphasis on spine. Dr. Tumialán was elected to the editorial board of the Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine in 2019.

Kai-Ming Fu

Kai-Ming Fu, MD, PhD, completed the MD-PhD program at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and then completed his residency and complex neurosurgical/orthopedic spine fellowship at the University of Virginia. He subsequently joined the faculty at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, where he is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Neurological Surgery. His current interests include investigating less invasive techniques for deformity surgery as well as participating in studies evaluating the treatment of degenerative spinal disease. He currently serves on the executive committee of the Disorders of the Spine and Peripheral Nerves (DSPN) and is a member of the board of directors at the NeuroPoint Alliance. Dr. Fu was elected to the editorial board of the Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine in 2020.

Christopher Hofstetter

Christopher Hofstetter, MD, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Neurological Surgery at the University of Washington (UW) in Seattle, Washington. He is a neurosurgeon specializing in complex spine surgery with an emphasis on minimally invasive techniques. His primary clinical focus is on the surgical treatment of degenerative spinal disorders, including disc herniation, lumbar spondylolisthesis, and cervical myelopathy as well as spinal oncology. Dr. Hofstetter received his MD from the University of Vienna, Austria, and earned his PhD at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, focusing on experimental treatment strategies for traumatic spinal cord injuries. He then completed a surgical internship and neurosurgery residency at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Dr. Hofstetter completed his clinical fellowship training at the Mayo Clinic and a spine fellowship focusing on complex minimally invasive spine surgery at the University of Miami. Dr. Hofstetter is a faculty member in the UW Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine. His research laboratory develops early ultrasound-based biomarkers for acute traumatic spinal cord injury. He investigates various experimental treatment strategies to enhance nerve fiber plasticity and regeneration following spinal cord injury, including electrical stimulation to enhance the signaling of remaining nerve fibers, replacement of lost neural cells via stem cell–based transplantation, and the promotion and guidance of nerve fiber regeneration utilizing scaffolds. Dr. Hofstetter’s clinical research focuses on the development of novel minimally invasive motion preserving spinal procedures. In particular he is investigating the use of full-endoscopic techniques for the treatment of disc herniations and foraminal stenosis. His research efforts strive to improve surgical tools as wells as to study clinical outcomes following these procedures. Dr. Hofstetter has extensive research experience in both clinical and basic science research and was awarded a prestigious Neurosurgery Research & Education Foundation (NREF) and Kambins awards for his research efforts. He has authored more than 70 peer-reviewed publications and is the author of the standard textbook on full-endoscopic spine surgery. He has written numerous textbook chapters and serves as a reviewer for several journals in neurosurgery and neuroscience. Dr. Hofstetter was elected to the editorial board of the Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine in 2020.

Wilson Z. Ray

Wilson Z. Ray, MD, is a Professor of Neurosurgery and the Chief of Spine Surgery at Washington University in St. Louis. He is the Vice Chair of Clinical Operations and Director of the joint Neurosurgery, Plastic Surgery, and Orthopedic Peripheral Nerve Fellowship. Dr. Ray completed his neurosurgery residency and a peripheral nerve fellowship at Washington University. He then completed a fellowship in complex spinal surgery at the University of Utah. He has extensive National Institute of Health and Department of Defense funding for his work in cervical myelopathy and nerve transfers for tetraplegia. Dr. Ray was elected to the editorial board of the Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine in 2020.

Mohamad Bydon

Dr. Mohamad Bydon is a Professor of Neurosurgery, Orthopedic Surgery, and Health Services Research at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. He has clinical expertise in the areas of complex spine surgery, spinal oncology, and minimally invasive spine surgery. He is a graduate of Dartmouth College and Yale University School of Medicine. He completed his residency in neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital, where he also did a clinical fellowship in complex spinal surgery and spinal oncology. At Mayo Clinic, he serves as the Principal Investigator of the Mayo Clinic Neuro-Informatics Laboratory. Dr. Bydon was elected to the Editorial Board of the Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine in 2021.

Peter G. Passias

Dr. Peter G. Passias completed an accelerated masters and medical doctorate program with a sub-focus on mechanical engineering, followed by residency at Tufts University. Following completion of his residency, he performed additional training at the Harvard Combined Fellowship, with a focus on adult spinal deformity, primary osseous tumors of the spine, and traumatic injuries to the spine. He spent a year studying spinal realignment and kinematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he received several NIH grants. This was followed by additional training in minimally invasive spine surgery and adult and pediatric spinal deformity at the Hospital for Special Surgery and Weill Cornell NewYork-Presbyterian Hospitals. He has also taken time to perform an abbreviated international fellowship on the treatment of atlantoaxial and occipitocervical deformities at Peking University Hospital. His practice is centered on the management of complex primary and revision adult and pediatric spinal deformities. He is considered a leader in the treatment of cervical spine deformities and has developed several techniques and treatment algorithms aimed at identifying optimal realignment procedures for specific clinical presentations. He has also been a pioneer in the adaption of robotic surgery for complex deformities. Research interests include outcomes of spinal surgery, cost utility, risk stratification, spinal realignment, and biomechanics. He has authored over 400 peer-reviewed manuscripts and presented over 1,000 abstracts at scientific meetings. Dr. Passias was elected to the Editorial Board of the Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine in 2021.

John H. Shin

Dr. John H. Shin is an Associate Professor of Neurosurgery at Harvard Medical School, Director of Spine Oncology and Spinal Deformity Surgery, Director of Neurosurgery Spine Network Development, and Director of the Spine Innovations Research Laboratory at the Massachusetts General Hospital. He completed neurosurgery residency at the University of Illinois at Chicago and postgraduate neurosurgery and orthopedic spine fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic. He specializes in the surgical treatment of spine tumors, chordoma, spinal deformity, and complex revision surgery. He is Co-Chair of the Media Committee and active member of the AANS/CNS Joint Section of Disorders of the Spine and Peripheral Nerves Executive Committee. Dr. Shin was elected to the Editorial Board of the Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine in 2021.

Cheerag D. Upadhyaya

Cheerag D Upadhyaya, MD, MBA, MSc is Clinical Associate Professor of Neurosurgery, UNC Hospitals Spine Center Co-Medical Director, and Chief Transformation & Business Strategy Officer. He completed neurosurgical residency at the University of Michigan, complex and minimally invasive spine fellowship at the University of California San Francisco, and research fellowships at the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes / National Institutes of Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program resulting in a Masters in Science from the University of Michigan. He recently completed his Masters of Business Administration from the MIT Sloan School of Management. He is a member of the Executive Committee for the AANS/CNS Spine and Peripheral Nerve Section as well as a member of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, Congress of Neurological Surgeons, American Medical Association, American College of Surgeons, and Scoliosis Research Society. He has been awarded the Scoliosis Research Society Edgar Dawson Traveling Fellowship and AANS/CNS Spine and Peripheral Nerve Outcomes Committee Award. Dr. Upadhyaya was elected to the Editorial Board of the Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine in 2021.

Jefferson Wilson

Dr Jefferson Wilson is a spinal neurosurgeon and scientist at St. Michael’s Hospital, University of Toronto, where he holds the Labatt Endowed Chair in Neurosurgery. He currently leads a clinical research program investigating both traumatic and nontraumatic spinal cord injury, with a specific interest in the development of predictive models and algorithms to help guide treatment and forecast outcomes. His research has been supported through several grants from organizations including the Canadian Institute of Health Research, the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation, AO Spine, the Neurosurgery Research and Education Foundation, and the Cervical Spine Research Society. He currently chairs a national evidence-based spine surgery course for residents and fellows and previously served as Deputy Editor for the journal Clinical Spine Surgery. Dr. Wilson was elected to the Editorial Board of the Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine in 2021.

Michelle J. Clarke

Dr. Clarke is a Professor of Neurosurgery and Orthopedics at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Her practice focuses on oncology, trauma, and degenerative disease of the spine. Dr. Clarke is a graduate of Princeton University and Georgetown Medical School. She completed residency at Mayo Clinic and completed a fellowship in complex spinal oncology surgery at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. At Mayo Clinic, Dr. Clarke serves as the Associate Dean for Surgery and Surgical Specialties and as Program Director for the Neurosurgery Enfolded Complex Spine Surgery Fellowship. Dr. Clarke was elected to the Editorial Board of the Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine in 2022.

Ann M. Parr

Dr. Parr received both her undergraduate and medical degrees from Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada. She then completed her PhD studies in neural stem cell transplantation for spinal cord injury during neurosurgical residency at the University of Toronto. During this time, she was affiliated with the Institute of Medical Science and the Clinical Investigator Program. She then received further training in complex spine at the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Hospital, Miami, Florida. After her training, Dr. Parr came to the University of Minnesota where she is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Neurosurgery, as well as the Medical Director for Spine and Principal Investigator of the Parr Lab at the Stem Cell Institute. She is Past-Chair of both the Minnesota Neurosurgical Society and the Section for Women in Neurosurgery, a Joint Section of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons.

Dr. Parr is a Board-Certified Neurosurgeon and interested in finding new therapies for spinal cord injury. She is also a faculty member in the Graduate Program in Neuroscience and the Stem Cell Institute. Dr. Parr's research centers on transplanting neural stem cells grown from a patient's own skin into the injured spinal cord. She has an active translational research laboratory and is interested in examining mechanisms of functional recovery using techniques such as histology and immunohistochemistry, cell culture, optogenetics, and animal modeling. Dr. Clarke was elected to the Editorial Board of the Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine in 2022.

Eric A. Potts

Eric A. Potts, MD, is a partner in Goodman Campbell Brain and Spine in Indianapolis, Indiana. Dr. Potts graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and then earned his doctorate at the Indiana University School of Medicine. He completed residency at the University of Maryland and his spine fellowship with Indianapolis Neurosurgical Group, the predecessor to Goodman Campbell Brain and Spine. Dr. Potts concentrates his practice on the treatment of spinal disorders. He is passionate about the use of cutting-edge techniques such as image-guided surgery and minimally invasive techniques. His research interests focus on clinical outcomes and quality of spinal surgery.

Dr. Potts serves as Chair-Elect of the AANS/CNS Section on Disorders of the Spine and Peripheral Nerves. He is the chair of neurosurgery at Ascension St. Vincent. Dr. Potts was elected to the Editorial Board of the Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine in 2022.

Kristen E. Jones

Kristen E. Jones MD, FAANS, is an Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery and Orthopedic Surgery at the University of Minnesota, where she completed a fellowship in spinal deformity. Dr. Jones serves on the executive committee of the AANS/CNS Joint Section on Disorders of the Spine and Peripheral Nerves, where she is chair of the Research and Awards Committee. She is a member of the AO Spine Knowledge Forum on Deformity and chair of the Spine Quality and Safety Committee for the MHealth/Fairview health care system. Dr. Jones’ research and clinical practice focuses on spinal deformity, scoliosis, pelvic fixation, and quality improvement in complex spine care. Dr. Jones was elected to the editorial board of the Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine in 2022.

Laura Snyder

Dr. Laura Snyder is Associate Professor of Neurosurgery, Director of Neurotrauma, and Associate Neurosurgery Residency Program Director at Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Arizona. She Snyder is a Chicago native. After receiving her Bachelor of Science at Pennsylvania State University, Dr. Snyder received her Medical Degree from Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia. She completed neurosurgery residency at Barrow Neurological Institute, with fellowships in Complex and Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery at Barrow Neurological Institute and Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. Dr. Snyder’s research and clinical interests include minimally invasive spine surgery, spinal trauma, robotic spine surgery, and enhanced recovery protocols. Dr. Snyder was elected to the Editorial Board of the Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine in 2022.

John H. Chi

Dr. John H. Chi is an Associate Professor of Neurosurgery at Harvard Medical School, Associate Program Director for Neurosurgery at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Director of Neurosurgical Spinal Oncology at Dana Farber Cancer Institute/Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. After graduating from Yale University majoring in molecular biophysics and biochemistry and classical studies, he attended the College of Physicians and Surgeons/Columbia University and the Mailman School of Public Health for his MD/MPH degrees. He completed residency at the University of California, San Francisco, and fellowship at Johns Hopkins University and has been on faculty at Brigham and Women’s, Dana Farber and Harvard since.

His clinical interests include spinal oncology, minimally invasive spine surgery, spinal arthroplasty, motion preservation, enabling technology, and clinical trials. He actively participates in FDA IND/IDE studies and is a member of the Executive Committee for the AANS/CNS Joint Section on Disorders of the Spine and Peripheral Nerves as well as committees for the Society for Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery. Dr. Chi was elected to the Editorial Board of the Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine in 2023.

Sanjay S. Dhall

Dr. Sanjay S. Dhall completed his neurosurgical residency at Emory University and his spine fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco. He is a Professor of Neurological Surgery at the University of California, Los Angeles, and Vice-Chair of the Department of Surgery at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. He has focused his research on spine trauma and spinal cord injury research and has authored and led numerous spine surgery guidelines. His publications have been cited more than 6800 times. His work on spinal cord injury was officially recognized by the United States Congress in 2014. In addition to his research, he has frequently been a guest on CNN where he has given expert commentary on brain and spinal injury. Dr. Dhall was elected to the Editorial Board of the Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine in 2023.

Yoon Ha

Dr. Yoon Ha is a Professor of Neurosurgery at Yonsei University in Seoul, Korea. He received his medical degree and PhD from Yonsei University and completed his neurosurgery residency at Severance Hospital in 1999. Dr. Ha has an active research interest in spinal deformity surgery, cervical spine surgery, and basic/translational research. He has been involved in numerous multicenter outcome research studies of spinal deformities, cervical ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament (OPLL), spinal cord injury, spinal trauma, and tumors involving the spinal column. He served as Editor-in-Chief of Neurospine from 2018 to 2022 and as an editor on the Editorial Boards of Neurosurgery (2016), Neurosurgical Focus (2017), and Asian Spine Journal (2017–2019).

Dr. Ha has won numerous awards for his work, including the Spinal Cord Injury Research at the Congress of Neurological Surgeons award in 2004. He has also received basic science research awards from the Cervical Spine Research Society in 2004 (Boston, Massachusetts) and 2009 (Salt Lake City, Utah). Dr. Ha's clinical fields of interest are complex spine surgeries, including adult spinal deformity, aging spine, trauma, cervical deformity, cervical OPLL, cervical spondylotic myelopathy, spine tumor, and revision surgeries. Dr. Ha was elected to the Editorial Board of the Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine in 2023.

Mark A. Mahan

Dr. Mark A. Mahan, Associate Professor of Neurosurgery at the University of Utah, specializes in complex peripheral nerve surgery, endoscopic spine surgery, and neurological reconstruction for diseases such as spasticity, spinal cord injury, nerve injury, and stroke. He runs a National Institutes of Health–funded laboratory studying peripheral nerve injuries, serves as a leader in multiple national and international surgical societies, is an associate editor of several medical journals, participates in multiple clinical trials, authors numerous academic articles on peripheral nerve and spine topics, and teaches extensively in the US and internationally on endoscopic techniques. Dr. Mahan was elected to the Editorial Board of the Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine in 2023.

Khoi D. Than

Dr. Khoi D. Than is an Associate Professor of Neurosurgery and Orthopaedic Surgery at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. Born in Houston, Texas, in 1982, Dr. Than graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Johns Hopkins University and stayed at Johns Hopkins for medical school. From there, he completed his neurosurgery residency at the University of Michigan and completed a 1-year minimally invasive and complex spine surgery fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco. After training, Dr. Than joined the faculty of Oregon Health & Science University as Assistant Professor of Neurological Surgery in 2015 and later was recruited to join the faculty at Duke in 2019.

Dr. Than’s research interests are in minimally invasive spinal deformity surgery and outcomes after spine surgery. He has co-authored more than 160 peer-reviewed articles and 30 book chapters.

Dr. Than serves on the Executive Committee of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons as a Member-At-Large, and on the Executive Committee of the AANS/CNS Section on Disorders of the Spine and Peripheral Nerves as Education Chair. He is also a member of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, North American Spine Society, and Scoliosis Research Society. Dr. Than was elected to the Editorial Board of the Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine in 2023.

Juan S. Uribe

Juan S. Uribe was born in Boston, Massachusetts. Dr. Uribe completed double neurosurgical residency training at the Universidad de Antioquia in Colombia and University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida. Given his interest in the spine, Dr. Uribe completed a clinical complex spine fellowship at the University of Miami and the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis. Currently, he is the Chief of Spinal Disorders and Vice-Chair of Neurosurgery at Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Arizona.

With nearly three decades of research experience, Dr. Uribe leads interdisciplinary, collaborative teams to achieve novel research discoveries. He serves as the Volker K. H. Sonntag Chair of Spine Research. His research focus is advancing the technologies and techniques in minimally invasive surgery. Additional research interests include anatomical, biomechanical, and clinical studies of applying minimally invasive spine surgery to complex traumatic injuries, tumors, and degenerative diseases.

Aligning with his clinical endeavors and research pursuits, Dr. Uribe has lectured extensively on minimally invasive spine surgery at both national and international conferences. Dr. Uribe has expanded the use of minimally invasive techniques in complex spine pathologies and has trained spine surgeons in six continents. His publication records include numerous book chapters and more than 200 peer-reviewed journal articles. Dr. Uribe was elected to the Editorial Board of the Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine in 2023.