Weinstein, Dolan receive 2015 OREF Award for AIS research

LAS VEGAS — Today at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Annual Meeting, Stuart L. Weinstein, MD, and Lori A. Dolan, PhD, were awarded the 2015 Orthopaedic Research and Education Foundation Clinical Research Award for their research in defining the natural history of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis.

Through their paper, “The Evidence Base for the Prognosis and Treatment of Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis,” in which patients were followed throughout their childhood, adolescence and adulthood, Weinstein and Dolan were able to dispute the previously held notion that all types of scoliosis would lead to a poor prognosis, according to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS).

Stuart L. Weinstein

“The study is a compilation of work over the last 40 years that led to the award. Winning the award is a wonderful honor and recognition of this research, which gives doctors treating adolescent idiopathic scoliosis the evidence base on which to make decisions about treatments of this childhood condition,” Weinstein told Spine Surgery Today.

Additionally, other long-term follow-up studies by Weinstein and Dolan have helped demonstrate the effectiveness of bracing for patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) and could play a role in decreasing the number of unnecessary surgeries performed.

Weinstein and Dolan were among several award winners honored during a Ceremonial Meeting at the annual meeting, here. – by Robert Linnehan

Reference: www.aaos.org.

Disclosures: Weinstein is a member of the editorial or governing board of the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery and receives publishing royalties, financial or material support from Wolters Kluwer Heath - Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Dolan is a board or committee member of both the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America and the Scoliosis Research Society.