Top 5 Spine Fellowships

If you're doing combined, do Cleveland Clinic.

I just got through the match process and there are 4 programs where I interviewed that had at least a bit of the combined aspect. As previously posted, Cleveland Clinic is a through and through combined fellowship where the neurosurgery and ortho faculty were indistinguishable (other than that the neuro guys were the only ones doing the intradural surgeries). It is a solid program, a great name, lots of good tertiary exposure, lacking in trauma, and also gives the fellow the opportunity to operate out of a community hospital every now and then doing bread and butter spine. The other program is Texas Medical Center in Houston where you spend 2 months with a neurosurgeon at MD Anderson with the option of spending a 3rd at the end of the year if you want. It also has a well-rounded trauma, degenerative, and adult and pediatric deformity experience with a good mix of cervical, thoracic (as much as you would anywhere else I am guessing) and lumbar procedures. It is a solid program that tends to fly under the radar a bit. Other than that, UCLA had a bit of interaction with neurosurgeons, but the 2 main attendings are ortho trained. Finally, in Louisville the ortho spine surgeons work intimately with neurosurgeons on almost every case with the ortho guys doing the exposure and instrumentation and the neuro guys covering the decompression. There may be a chance to do more with the neuro guys for a motivated fellow if time allows.

I can't speak of the other programs that you listed, so I'm sorry, but I hope that this helps.

Does anyone have any info on

Hospital for Joint Diseases
Hospital For Special Surgery
Mass General Combined Fellowship


Do Fellows watch or do?

A couple of thoughts on so-called "combined" fellowships. As orthopedic surgeon, combined fellowship gives you little additional advantage. After a 1 year fellowship, you will not be doing intradural work even if you work with neurosurgeons during your fellowship. You need to work with competent spine surgeons who can teach you how to do a real decompression, whether ortho or neuro. Don't worry about dural tears...you'll learn how to repair them if you go to a good fellowship.

I believe there is an advantage for neurosurgeons to do combined fellowships especially if they have an interest in deformity surgery. Most places, orthopods are doing most of the deformity, although this is changing to some extent, for the most part, deformity still goes to ortho. So as a neuro who wants to treat the spectrum of spine including complex deformity, they gain a lot by working with ortho.

I don't think an ortho gets much out of working with neurons, because again, it takes more than one year to be adept at treating intradural conditions, which are rare to begin with. If you want to do intradural work, you should have done a neurosurg residency. Can't make that up by doing a 1 year "combined" fellowship. So give up the pipedream of saying you can do what neurons can just because you have done a combined fellowship. At the end of the day, you'll still be an orthopedic surgeon. No intradural work for you. Sorry. No shortcuts.

Guys, can you please tell me which spine fellowships accept applicants outside of the SF Match?
There is a great Georgian (old Republic of Georgia) ortho spine guy who is looking to come to the US for extra training. Thanks in advance.

Does anyone have any info on

Hospital for Joint Diseases
Hospital For Special Surgery
Mass General Combined Fellowship


Do Fellows watch or do?

I would also like to know about HJD and HSS

Operative log, scope of practise, fellow role and people there

Plus living costs at these places