I interviewed and matched at Wash U for the spine fellowship. It is a great place to spend a year and the training available is unparallelled. They concentrate on individual areas of the spine and during the six 2-month rotations, you focus only on that specific area. Dan Riew is The Cervical Spine Guy, and I use capital letters intentionally. He is a very personable guy who is known the world over for his surgical skills, innovations, and publications. Larry Lenke is primarily peds but does some adult deformity and is a hard charger who never slows down. Despite this he is a nice guy who displays genuine concern for the people around him. Brett Taylor is the newest member of the group and has a very impressive resume. He works mainly with the residents but when a fellow scrubs a case with him, it's the fellow's case. He is very bright and exceedingly nice. Keith Bridwell was very difficult to read during my interview. He primarily does deformity and some peds. He is very formal and an old school attending. He has been doing spine for a long time and has a ton to offer to an up & coming spine surgeon. Training in this program will allow you to care for any spinal malady and allow you to pick & choose your job. They interiew 16 people on 2 days for 3 spots; last year they had > 80 applications.
If you have any other questions, email me @ [url=mailto]wvubonehead@yahoo.com[/url]
Good Luck,
GAC