A Smartphone App With a Digital Care Pathway for Patients Undergoing Spine Surgery: Development and Feasibility Study.

As a Neurosurgeon with fellowship training in Spine Surgery, I have dedicated my professional life to treating patients with spine disorders. These include spinal stenosis, spondylolisthesis, scoliosis, herniated discs and spine tumors. I incorporate minimally-invasive spine (MIS) techniques whenever appropriate to minimize pain and length of stay, yet not compromise on achieving the goals of surgery, which is ultimately to get you back to the quality of life you once enjoyed. I was drawn to medicine and neurosurgery for the unique ability to incorporate the latest in technology and neuroscience to making patients better. I will treat you and your loved ones with the same kind of care I would want my loved ones to be treated with. In addition to my clinical practice, I will be working with Duke Bioengineers and Neurobiologists on important basic and translational questions surrounding spinal cord injuries (SCI), which we hope to bring to clinical relevance.

My clinical areas of expertise include spinal surgery, especially cervical spine surgery where I have performed almost 8,300 cervical spine procedures and recently was ranked the top cervical spine surgeon in the country by MPIRICA (an analytical company that reviews surgical outcomes).  I believe the whole patient is important and we emphasize time with the patient and careful discussions regarding possible surgery. Our excellent results are due to a great team of physicians, nurses, CRNAs, and anesthesiologists.  I also believe in the spiritual side in taking care of my patients. As a design surgeon we are developing better ways to treat cervical spine disease through innovative approaches to the cervical spine.

Through my Masters in Academic Medicine degree, I developed the Surgical Autonomy Program which is now used in 7 Neurosurgery Programs across the country and is an innovative way to teach, assess, and provide feedback to residents in the intraoperative environment.  Over the last twelve years we have developed the first ever Division of Global Neurosurgery and Neurology (launched in 2014), where I serve as the Division Chief and the Division boasts over 100 members including faculty, graduate and medical students, undergraduate students and an outstanding staff of researchers, most located in the Duke Global Health Institute.  The Division has published over 120 manuscripts between 2014 and 2023.  We have primarily worked in building capacity, teaching, and collaborative research projects in Uganda.  In 2019 I was invited to join the faculty at the Duke-Singapore Global Health Institute and we are working with the Singapore Neuroscience Department to develop outreach and increase capacity in Jaffna, Sri Lanka.