Inaugural OU Spine Symposium 2024
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Tags: medicine, conference
On July 27th, 2024 I attended the OU Inaugural Spine Symposium, which was arranged by Dr. John Burke from OU.
The night before there was a reception at Vast where the 2 keynote addresses were given by invited speakers Dr. Aaron Clark, M.D. Ph.D and Dr. Michael Safaee, M.D. Dr. Clark spoke about lateral positioning for spinal surgery, which is a newer positioning technique that seems to have fewer complications. Dr. Safaee talked about the application of genetics and molecular biology techniques in neurosurgery, including the isolation of genes that might lead to bad outcomes from surgery, and about the quantification of telomere length to determine a person's "biological age". These sorts of measurements might be able to give surgeons more data on who might make a good candidate vs who might not.
The conference featured some excellent talks. Robert Remondino and Barry Pollard began the day's talks by reflecting on the history of neurosurgery in Oklahoma. Dr. Pollard established the only neurosurgical practice in Enid (sadly defunct now) and Dr. Remondino is a highly accomplished neurosurgeon who trained at UCLA and Miami Jackson. Other memorable talks included a talk by Dr. Ahmadinia from Advanced Orthopedics of Oklahoma in Tulsa, Dr. Doug Beall's talk on conservative treatment options like spinal allograft injections he is developing, and a talk by Dr. Zach Smith about the increasing role of technology in the operating room. Dr. Hakim Shakir also presented.
There were many interesting talks. This photo is from a short panel discussion including Drs. John Burke, Clay Cochran, and James Gregory.
Dr. Cameron Shirazi from SSM Health gave a talk on deformity correction surgery that was quite interesting, including a few really cool interoperative videos and some great X-rays.
I've linked the full program. It was a really phenomenal event, the first of its kind in Oklahoma, and many thanks to Dr. Burke for putting it on.