Welcome to the Complex Spine Fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania!
My goal is to expose our fellows to a great variety of cases within the field of spine surgery. Together with our world-renowned faculty, fellows will have an opportunity to learn and advance their skills throughout the entire spectrum of spine surgery. Training will encompass simple and complex degenerative spine disease, minimally invasive spine surgery, deformity, spinal oncology, and trauma. Fellows will have opportunities to learn complex deformity surgical techniques such PSO, VCR, minimally invasive surgical techniques such as endoscopic spine surgery, advanced lateral techniques (anterior-to-psoas, lateral ALIF), spine robotics, complex oncologic tumor resections, and others. At the University of Pennsylvania, we perform over 2000 spine surgeries yearly, and are staffed by 10 board-certified spine-focused orthopedic and neurosurgeons.
In addition to robust clinical training, the fellows will be expected to participate in rigorous clinical and translational research in spine surgery. I lead the clinical and translational research lab that focuses on investigating novel ways to measure and track surgical outcomes as well as to develop novel surgical devices and perform biomechanical studies. During the fellowship year, we want our fellows to develop as clinician-scientists and thought-leaders on the national and international stage. Fellows will have the opportunity to be an integral member of our research lab and represent us at national meetings by giving podium presentations and running cadaver courses at national society meetings.
At the University of Pennsylvania, we are training the next generation of leaders in spine surgery. This is an exciting time at the department of Neurosurgery at the University of Pennsylvania and especially in the division of spine surgery. We look forward to hearing from you all!
My very best,
Ali K. Ozturk, MD, FAANS