Becker's Spine Review

9 SPINE Dr. Zoher Ghogawala named president of NASS By Carly Behm Zoher Ghogawala, MD, is the new president of the North American Spine Society, the organization said Oct. 18. He is a neurosurgeon and chair of neurosurgery at Lahey Hospital and Medical Center in Burlington, Mass., according to a news release. Dr. Ghogawala has been involved with NASS since 2008 and has leadership roles across several committees. Dr. Ghogawala was deputy editor for The Spine Journal for seven years and served on the editorial board of Spine. He has more than 100 published articles and has iven more than 100 visting lectures. ""It is truly an honor to be named president of NASS, an organization I have been part of for 15 years," he said in the release. "As we continue acclimating to the post- pandemic landscape in health care and beyond, we face many challenges as an organization. But I look forward to meeting them head on, as we collaboratively work to improve NASS and spine care in general. I also believe that organized orthopedics and organized neurosurgery need to be aligned to advocate for our patients." n UAMS names co-director of spine services By Carly Behm T he University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock named Hector Enrique Soriano-Baron, MD, as co-director of spine services, according to an Oct. 24 news release. Dr. Soriano-Baron is an assistant professor of neurosurgery and orthopedics. At UAMS he will direct neurosurgery, and David Bumpass, MD, will oversee orthopedics. "My role as co-director will focus on making sure we are providing the best spinal care for all Arkansans with a caring, multidisciplinary approach to all our patients, especially now that we have The Orthopaedic & Spine Hospital," Dr. Soriano-Baron said in the release. He earned his medical degree at Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico in Mexico City, and he completed his residency at the National Institute of Neurology and Neurosurgery in Mexico City. He completed a fellowship in biomechanics of the spine and a clinical spinal research fellowship at Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix. After completing a second residency at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, N.C., he completed a spine and robotic surgery fellowship at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. n Recent publications have advocated for plastic surgery closure of surgeries for spinal oncology, as they result in fewer postoperative wound complications. Additionally, plastic surgery may be able to provide vascularized corpectomy autogras in situations where pseudoarthrosis is a high concern. Lastly, the two-surgeon model with a neurosurgeon and an orthopedic spine surgeon, especially for more challenging cases, has been shown to result in better outcomes. Brian Gantwerker, MD. e Craniospinal Center of Los Angeles: Cross-specialty collaboration is a critical aspect of any successful surgeon. I work with several other disciplines in a cross-collaborative manner that is for the betterment of patient care. For instance, my approach surgeon for my ALIFs and lumbar arthroplasty is a consummate professional. We trade ideas on business, medical advocacy and curbside each other when needed. Pain management is also absolutely critical to keep tabs on how patients are doing outside of one's own bubble. So every opportunity you can get, take it. Medical specialties are also critical, especially with co-management perioperatively, especially as some of our patients age and become more medically complex — especially when so many are trying to offload this to scales and guidelines. Christian Zimmerman, MD. St. Alphonsus Medical Group and SAHS Neuroscience Institute (Boise, Idaho): For decades, collaboration between medical/surgical specialties have been integrated to provide "best practice" to patients, and most complex spinal surgeons currently utilize the many available adjuncts routinely. For instance, complex anterior spinal procedures are best managed with co-surgeons and intraoperative spinal cord monitoring enhances patient safety with Neurology colleague oversight. Integration of multifaceted specialty care is a mainstay of secure healthcare delivery and will continue. Henceforth, telemedicine and its expanding use in clinical and surgical therapies prospectively provides additional opportunity for collaborative discussion and integrated critical appraisals. n

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