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Spine Surgery Today welcomes chief medical editors
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Scott D. Boden
John C. Liu
We welcome new Chief Medical Editors with this issue of Spine Surgery Today, a multidisciplinary news and information source for spine surgeons and neurosurgeons. Scott D. Boden, MD, is the Chief Medical Editor, Orthopedic Surgery, and John C. Liu, MD, is the Chief Medical Editor, Neurosurgery.
“I am honored to be named as a Chief Medical Editor of Spine Surgery Today. I have enjoyed my involvement with Orthopedics Today for more than a decade and welcome the additional responsibility in helping to bring current news, studies and other information to the spine surgery community in a timely fashion,” he said.
Liu said, “It is a privilege to be part of the Editorial Board for Spine Surgery Today and help bring topics that truly matter to all spine surgeons and spine care professionals. Our mission is to bring current and relevant reports in a balanced and timely fashion. I look forward in working closely with Dr. Boden and other members of the Editorial Board to accomplish this very important and exciting task,”
Joan-Marie Stiglich, ELS, Chief Content Officer of SLACK Incorporated, said “Our intention for Spine Surgery Today is to blend neurosurgery and orthopedic surgery and each specialty’s unique contributions to spine surgery. To achieve this, we sought luminaries to mirror the expertise of the highly specialized spine community. We are honored that Drs. Boden and Liu have accepted the Chief Medical Editor positions.”
Orthopedic surgery
Boden is a professor of orthopedic surgery at the Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta and serves as the director of the Emory Orthopaedics & Spine Center, vice chair of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, chief medical officer/chief quality officer of The Emory University Orthopaedics & Spine Hospital, and Emory Healthcare Physician Director of Strategy and Development for Orthopaedics & Spine Programs. He is also the clinical director of the Whitesides Orthopaedic Research Laboratory. Boden is the founder and chairman of the National Spine Network, a collaboration of 25 Spine Centers of Excellence in the United States, which focus on outcomes research and quality improvement. He helped Emory University plan its free-standing multidisciplinary musculoskeletal outpatient center in 2004 and its orthopedic and spine specialty hospital in 2008.
Boden’s research focuses on the biology of spine fusion healing and bone graft substitutes as well as the molecular control of bone formation and gene therapy applications for bone and intervertebral disc cartilage regeneration. His most recent research has focused on the development of small molecules to promote bone and cartilage regeneration.
He is currently president of the American Orthopaedic Association. He is past-president of both the International Society for Study of the Lumbar Spine and Eastern Orthopaedic Association, and formerly secretary of the board of directors for the Orthopaedic Research Society.
Boden received his bachelor’s degree and medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He completed an orthopedic residency at the George Washington University Medical Center, followed by a spine fellowship at Case Western Reserve University Hospitals.
Neurosurgery
Liu is a professor of neurosurgery and orthopedic surgery at Keck School of Medicine – University of Southern California and is the co-director of the USC Spine Center in Los Angeles. He was previously vice chairman of Spine Services for the Department of Neurosurgery and co-medical director of the Spine Center, residency director, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. He also was an associate professor in the Department of Neurological Surgery at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago. He also served in the United States Army Reserves.
Liu’s research focuses on minimally invasive spinal applications and spinal biomechanics adjacent level disease. He has conducted clinical trials in stem cell spinal cord injury and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, vitamin D and osteoporosis in spine surgery, as well as clinical trials in spine adhesion barrier and lumbar arthroplasty.
Among Liu’s professional memberships are the Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS), American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS), AANS/CNS Spine Joint Section, North American Spine Society, and the Neurosurgical Society of America.
Liu received his bachelor’s and pharmacy degrees from the University of California, and his medical degree from the University of California School of Medicine. He completed a surgical internship at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, and his residency at the Department of Neurological Surgery at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. He also completed a fellowship in complex spine surgery and minimally invasive surgery at the Department of Neurological Surgery at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.