Thinking about residency? Come to Duke’s online First Look event August 28, 7-8:30pm ET & talk to program leaders, faculty, & residents. All med students welcome. Register here: duke.is/Duke-First-Loo… #MedTwitter #MedEd #residency

As year comes to a close, it’s bittersweet to see our trainees finish,go on to great things.worked with Dr. Matt Morris, orthopedic fellow last few months.Learned a lot from him.Great doctor, surgeon, person. Looking forward to seeing his future success. Duke Spine

excited to share our paper on bioethics & nsgy in World Neurosurgery Journal the idea of this paper was born 2 yrs ago, great to see it published! team: Alexandra “Sasha” White, MD MA Theresa Williamson Brian Nahed MD MSC FCNS FACS Stephen Miranda, MD, MS Gabriel Lazaro-Munoz Dr Nader Pouratian FCNS Mariam_Abdelbarr Harvard Medical School Center for Bioethics sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

Never know when you are going to hear wisdom nuggets. Overheard at a basketball camp this week. 3 things you can’t take back (so use wisely): 1) Time 2) Words 3) Opportunity

One of main missions Duke Neurosurgery is #education.This includes twice monthly Case Discussion Conference where residents present interesting/difficult cases.Though target audience is residents, find myself learning much from the great care my colleagues deliver to our patients.

Great time giving Grand Rounds ⁦Montefiore Health System⁩ this morning and spending time with Neurosurgery residents. Spoke about ‘Pushing the Limits of Minimally-Invasive Spine Surgery’. Their enthusiasm and eagerness to learn is contagious!

62 y.o. with left arm pain, numbness.Underwent ultraminimally invasive endoscopic decompression. Home within 2 hours.6 months later, says pain is completely gone and numbness is 70% better.   Happy to be able to provide appropriate patients with this amazing surgery. Duke Spine

Learning/teaching never ends. Grateful for Dr. Daniel Hafez for spending Saturday sharing pearls of endoscopic spine surgery with our faculty.It’s in these intimate sessions that much is learned and our patients benefit.

Looking forward to this!

Back in class Duke University School of Medicine Dr. John Roberts gave a great talk on “feeling comfortable being uncomfortable”.    I also really enjoyed his graphical representation of imposter syndrome.  Both of these concepts are applicable WAY after medical school.

Had the pleasure of having one of my patients who had a two level awake fusion 3 years ago agree to come talk to Duke University School of Medicine.  Listening to her journey through back pain, to surgery, to an improved life helps reminds us of the ‘why’ we do the work we do.

Early Saturdaystarted off with a webinar with ACNS (Asian Congress of Neurological Surgeons). Then, jumped to co-moderate a session by WFNS.  Theresa Williamson , Mirza Pojskic, Corinna Zygourakis, Francesco Costa.     The challenge is bringing these technologies to those environments where resources are not ‘unlimited’

Another “Endo Sunday”:) Love seeing the enthusiasm of colleagues from all over the state to adopt new technology to help minimize the surgical footprint on our patients.Big thanks to Arthrex Spine and TrackX Technology, Inc. for their continued support.

It was great having Dr. Ning Xie, orthopedic spine surgeon from Shanghai observe some of our surgeries ⁦Duke Spine⁩. These included patient-specific TLIFs and prone lateral for deformity. It is in the exchange of expertise that ultimately our patients benefit.

Amazing first day Society for Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery!Frank Phillips on how much spine surgery has improved.Talks by Michael Wang,Choll Kim on new technology that will allow for safer,more reproducible surgeries.Glad to be invited to talk about patient-specific spine surgery.  Met old and made new friends

Great 2nd day at SMISS.Chris Shaffrey presented arguments for integrating spine training. Ahilan “Siva” Sivaganesan, MD presented learning new skills after training. Dan Choi presented about social media and the ‘Kobe Rules’. Theresa Williamson presented about ergonomics while we operate.

Strong showing Duke Spine on final day of Society for Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery . Dr. David Huie presented abstract on using endoscopic decompression in select cases of scoliosis.  Joshua Woo, superstar Duke University School of Medicine student presented data comparing 3 different types of TLIFs.  The future is bright!

Elderly patient involved in MVA. Underwent a perc S1 sacroiliac fixation by Dr. Malcolm R. DeBaun, Duke Orthopaedics. Due to  lumbopelvic dissociation,  underwent a robotic-assisted percutaneous L4-pelvis fixation with our team Duke Spine . 6 months postop, patient can walk unassisted.

It was great hosting Dr. Simon Balogun from Nigeria and Dr. Daouda Sissoko from Mali this week. We first met in South Africa @WFNS. I’ll rep Egypt to complete the African theme:) Duke Neurosurgery

Quickday trip OSET.Current Duke Spine  fellows, Dr. Lauren Seo and Dr. George Borrelli, former fellow Dr. Mike Gallizzi co-fellowship director Melissa Erickson, MD, MBA . Discussions around best treatment for cervical myelopathy,implications for training next generation of spine surgeons.