Spine Center

Spine Center staff are honored to help train the next generation of spine specialists. This includes:

  • training for Harvard Medical School students and interns/residents
  • a Combined Spine Fellowship, described in detail below.
  • a bimonthly Spine Indications Conference
  • the annual Augustus A. White, III, MD, PhD, Spine Symposium, an event that allows trainees and specialists to learn about topics in leading-edge spine care

Combined Spine Fellowship

Goals

The primary focus of this combined orthopaedic and neurosurgical ACGME-accredited fellowship is on education and training. The goal is to ensure that trainees will be well-prepared to begin an academic or private practice spine surgery career with confidence.

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) is a Level One Trauma center, a regional referral facility for complex cases, and a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School. In this environment, our spine surgery fellow is trained to treat the gamut of adult spinal disorders with confidence. A high volume of complex disorders is seen, including traumatic, congenital, degenerative, neoplastic, iatrogenic, and deformity conditions. This offers the fellow a broad clinical experience.

The training background of our multidepartmental teaching staff is diverse, exposing the fellow to a wide variety of surgical and other interventional techniques. The fellow also has directed experience in the multi-disciplinary Spine Center, inpatient wards, and emergency department.

A reading program, indications conference, and M&M conference augment our Harvard Combined spine journal club and spine fellows lecture series, which are shared between Harvard affiliated teaching hospitals.

The fellowship also offers research opportunities. A monthly meeting brings together spine researchers from all Harvard Combined institutions to provide the fellow with high impact, well directed, collaborative research projects. The fellow must complete one project suitable for publication during the year.

All candidates must have successfully completed and orthopaedic residency and be board-eligible or board-certified. This fellowship is ACGME-accredited.

How To Apply

Please include:

  • Application
  • CV
  • USMLE or equivalent
  • Photo
  • Personal Statement
  • 4 letters of recommendation (including 1 from Program Director)

Apply

*Applications that are not complete will not be reviewed.

Teaching Faculty

Fellowship Director

  • Umesh Metkar, MD (Orthopaedic Surgery)
  • Andrew P. White, MD (Orthopaedic Surgery)
  • Efstathios Papavassiliou, MD (Neurosurgery)
  • Paul A. Glazer, MD (Orthopaedic Surgery)
  • Stefan C. Muzin, MD (Physiatry)

Contact Information

Department of Orthopaedic Surgery
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Stoneman 10
330 Brookline Ave.
Boston, MA 02215
Phone: 617-667-2133
Fax: 617-667-2155
Email: gvasque1@bidmc.harvard.edu

Additional Information

Percent of Fellowship devoted to Operative Care: 70%
Non-Operative Care: 30%
Research/Publication Obligation: Yes
Approximate percentage of exposure to the Spine by region:

  • Cervical: 40%
  • Thoracic: 10%
  • Lumbar: 50%

Approximate percentage of fellowship exposure to the spine by diagnostic category:

  • Degenerative: 40%
  • Trauma: 20%
  • Deformity: 20%
  • Pediatric: 0%
  • Other: 20%

 

For more information, please contact:

Lori Meady, Medical Education Coordinator
Department of Orthopaedics
330 Brookline Ave. Stoneman 10
Boston, MA 02215
Phone: 617-667-2133
Fax: 617-667-2155
Email: ameady@bidmc.harvard.edu