Message from the Co-Directors
Colleagues,
As we approach the end of our academic year, we would like to celebrate our successes for 2024/2025. The U of T Spine Program continues to foster city-wide collaborations within the University and the affiliated hospitals while taking the lead in several key initiatives and garnering a respected academic footprint locally, nationally, and globally. Collaboration and inter-professional multi-disciplinary knowledge exchange remain key elements to our success. The Program has continued to provide a full and rich calendar of academic activities in both online and in-person formats. This has enabled continued participation from alumni and the spinal community throughout Canada and across the globe.
On Monday, June 9th, our Program proudly celebrates the 17th Annual Spine Academic Day—SpineFEST 2025—a signature event where our spinal community gathers to showcase achievements and share the latest in clinical, scientific, and educational advancements. We are thrilled to welcome this year’s Tator-Hall Keynote Lecturer, Professor Michael Y. Wang, MD, MBA, FAANS, Chief of Neurosurgery and Spine Neurosurgery Fellowship Director at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. A globally recognized leader in neurosurgery and spine surgery, Dr. Wang has held prominent roles in AANS, CNS, NASS, ISASS, SMISS, and ERAS. With over 800 publications, 15 edited textbooks, and more than 1,000 lectures to his name, his pioneering research spans minimally invasive surgery, spinal deformity, robotics, and spinal cord injury. We eagerly anticipate his keynote address, “Ultra-MIS Spinal Surgery.”
Following the keynote, a focused symposium on Minimally Invasive vs. Open Surgery, chaired by Dr. Stephen Lewis, will feature expert faculty presenting updates on clinical and research innovations in spine care. The day will conclude with invited trainee presentations, showcasing exceptional clinical and basic science research by the next generation of spine specialists.
Join us in celebrating this milestone event and in welcoming Dr. Michael Wang to SpineFEST 2025!
We extend our sincere thanks to our dedicated program judges—Drs. Joel Finkelstein, Jeremie Larouche, Chris Nielsen, Meaghan O’Reilly, Carlo Ammendolia, Michael Hardisty, David Lebel, Chris Witiw, Cari Whyne, Jay Detsky, Jetan Badhiwala, and Mark Camp—for generously contributing their time and expertise in evaluating a large number of abstracts. While we received many outstanding abstracts, only a select few could be recognized as Best Abstracts for Oral Presentations. The remaining excellent submissions will be showcased during the Elevator Pitch sessions, highlighting the breadth of innovative research within our community.
The U of T Spine Program continues to leverage our foundational education platform to help create and support a national spine surgery fellowship training curriculum for cognitive and procedural competencies. Apart from tracking fellowship training experience, our efforts have enhanced cross-institutional and collaborative Neurosurgery and Orthopaedic Surgery spinal training across Toronto Academic Health Sciences Network (TAHSN) teaching hospitals, including Toronto Western Hospital (TWH-UHN), Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre (SHSC), Unity Health Toronto (UHT), and the Hospital for Sick Children (HSC). We support an academic hub that competitively attracts around 16 national and international clinical fellows including many additional traveling surgeons each year. For several years now, our program has continued to offer both a one-year core fellowship training experience as well as two-year fellowship opportunities with a more advanced second year focus on areas of subspecialty interest including research. While the fellowships remain primarily based at one of the TAHSN hospitals, opportunities exist and have been supported for city-wide experience. Many thanks to Drs. Albert Yee, Michael Fehlings, Stephen Lewis, Eric Massicotte, Jeremie Larouche, Chris Nielsen, Joel Finkelstein, Howard Ginsberg, Henry Ahn, and Reinhard Zeller for their valued help in shaping our citywide fellowship training opportunities. Building upon our Canadian Spine Society (CSS) national fellowship curriculum, our Program also continues with supporting and growing a surgical case log initiative for our citywide spine fellows. There are over 16,600 cases and procedures recorded since 2015. We thank Drs. Jeremie Larouche, Tony Bateman, and Ms. Nadia Jaber for creating a successful foundational case log tracking program for our citywide fellows.
To formally recognize Spine Surgery as a distinct discipline within the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (RCPSC), we have collaborated with national colleagues to develop an Area of Focused Competence (AFC) in spine surgery. The AFC application was approved for national development in November 2021. Since then, a Royal College working group—including leadership and representation from the University of Toronto—has drafted three foundational documents: a Trainee Portfolio outlining core training requirements, a Clinical Training Requirements (CTR) document representing the national curriculum, and Standards of Accreditation for university training centres. These documents are in final review, being translated with English and French versions, and will soon be distributed to Canadian university Postgraduate Medical Education (PGME) offices. Programs can then apply for accreditation, with adult and pediatric training streams available, and a future stream planned for practicing surgeons. Our program is well-positioned to apply and lead this initiative. Special thanks to Drs. Albert Yee, Jeremie Larouche, Michael Fehlings, Scott Paquette, Hamilton Hall, and Ms. Nadia Jaber for spearheading national engagement with academic spine programs and fellowship directors. This competency-based diploma will enhance surgical education and foster new international collaborations, as several global specialty organizations have already expressed interest in our model.
This year, we launched our academic calendar of events on September 17th with a welcome dinner for our incoming fellows and provided an updated on our citywide research opportunities. Many thanks to Drs. Carlo Ammendolia and Cari Whyne for taking the lead in keeping our spinal community informed related to the progress of spine research being conducted in our program.
On November 1st, Dr. Stephen Lewis once again led our highly anticipated Annual Fellow Surgical Skills Course, delivering an immersive experience in advanced spine surgery. Fellows had the opportunity to perform both anterior and posterior approaches using state-of-the-art instrumentation, gaining hands-on expertise in cutting-edge techniques. Over the years, Dr. Lewis, and joined recently by Dr. Chris Nielson also, have elevated this course to include complex procedures such as deformity osteotomy, minimally invasive techniques, and trauma-focused surgery. The day featured a dynamic blend of image-guided wet lab sessions and interactive faculty lectures enriched by current - case discussions.
This year, we were excited to welcome fellows from London and Hamilton, reflecting the growing reach of the course. Special thanks to Dr. Chris Nielsen for co-chairing the event and to Ms. Nadia Jaber for her expert coordination of logistics. We also gratefully acknowledge the continued support of our valued industry partners—Medtronic, Stryker, DePuy Synthes, and Bioventus. Looking ahead, we are thrilled to announce a new collaboration with the Canadian Spine Society that will expand this course nationally, offering training in the fall to all incoming spine fellows across Canada—marking a major milestone in our commitment to surgical education and excellence.
The Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury Management and Classification Course was held on January 20th, continuing with a dynamic hybrid learning model. The program integrated pre-recorded lectures, online instructional modules, and an in-person practicum, followed by interactive, case-based discussions. This comprehensive format provided an excellent platform for teaching both clinical and research expertise in TSCI care. Special thanks to Dr. Sukhvinder Kalsi-Ryan and Ms. Nadia Jaber for their outstanding coordination and vision in delivering a successful hybrid educational experience. We also gratefully acknowledge the course faculty—Drs. Michael Fehlings, Jeremie Larouche, Jeff Wilson, and Julio Furlan—whose roles as dedicated educators greatly enriched the program through their deep clinical and research knowledge.
On March 17th, we continued to enrich our residents’ surgical education with the annual Royal College Mock Oral Course, designed to prepare senior neurosurgery and orthopedic surgery residents for their national Royal College exit examinations. This year, five neurosurgery and ten orthopedic surgery residents participated. Drs. Jeremie Larouche and Jetan Badhiwala once again co-chaired the course, providing outstanding leadership in adapting and advancing the program to align with the evolving structure of the Royal College specialty exams. We extend our sincere thanks to fellow educators Drs. Samuel Yoon, Tiffany Lung, and alumnus Dr. Luke Reda for their invaluable contributions in guiding residents through case-based scenarios and helping them excel in their oral exam preparation.
We are pleased to have continued the annual Pediatric Spine Deformity Surgery course for the 3rd year on April 7th . Thanks to Dr. David Lebel for chairing and organizing this well received educational course. Many thanks also to SickKids educators Mike Vandenberk (RNT), Ms. Jennifer Dermott, and Dr. Mark Camp for their outstanding teaching including case-based lectures.
Our academic calendar of events continues to grow with new educational initiatives being added regularly. The new course on Non-Operative Treatment of Spine Disorder was launched on December 9th with a successful hybrid model with a combination of lectures on-demand, hands-on session of non-operative treatment, and case-based presentations and discussion. Thanks to Dr. Ammendolia for his leadership in establishing this course, and Dr. Josh Plener for his valued contribution and teaching role.
Throughout the academic year, our Program hosts several world-renowned professors through our well-established Hospital-Based Visiting Professorship Series, as well as in collaboration with affiliated hospitals and University programs. In partnership with the Collaborative Program in Neuroscience, we were honored to welcome Dr. Ona Bloom as a Neuroscience Distinguished Lecturer on August 24th. Dr. Bloom delivered an engaging presentation on immunological changes following traumatic spinal cord injury, showcasing her groundbreaking research. Dr. Bloom serves as Director of the Laboratory of Spinal Cord Injury Research at The Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research, Northwell Health, New York.
At the provincial level, under the leadership of Dr. Raj Rampersaud and Dr. Jeremie Larouche, our program—working in collaboration with city-wide surgical colleagues—is actively advancing initiatives to improve spinal care triage in response to growing population needs and prolonged wait times for specialist consultation. Key efforts include expanding centralized intake systems and optimizing the role of Advanced Practice Providers (APPs) to address current gaps in clinical care, thereby complementing ongoing enhancements to the provincial Degenerative Spine Quality-Based Procedures (QBP) program. Additionally, the Provincial Neurosurgery Ontario Expert Panel has secured new funding to support accelerated access for urgent cranial and spinal assessments. Broader provincial priorities remain centered on regionalized care models, streamlined central intake processes, and strategies targeting wait time management, alongside ongoing efforts to bolster workforce recruitment, retention, system capacity, and operational efficiency.
We are proud to celebrate the graduation of our 2024–2025 citywide spine fellows, who will complete their fellowship training in July or later in December. Congratulations to Drs. Muhammad Ali Akbar, Samuel Yoon, Ran Ankory, Shachar Vider, Wassim Mazarieb, Faisal Almatrafi, Ahmed Al-Ahmari, Chloe Cadieux, Tiffany Lung, Abdullah Eissa, Celina Nahanni, Jed Lazarus, Karim Aboelmagd, Ariel Zohar, Abdul Albassam, and Annemarie Versteeg. We extend our warmest wishes for continued success in their professional journeys and look forward to their ongoing involvement in our Program as esteemed alumni.
As we close another remarkable academic year, we extend our heartfelt gratitude to the University of Toronto Department of Surgery Spine Program Council, our dedicated educators, and trainees for their unwavering commitment and exceptional contributions to the ongoing success of our Program. We are privileged to draw on the specialized and diverse expertise of our members, and we deeply value the enduring support from the Department of Surgery and the Divisions of Neurosurgery and Orthopedic Surgery. In particular, we thank Dr. Carol Swallow (Chair, Department of Surgery), Dr. Peter Ferguson (Chair, Orthopedic Surgery), and Dr. Jim Rutka (Interim Chair, Neurosurgery) for their steadfast leadership and advocacy for our University-Wide Program.
We also gratefully acknowledge the continued partnership of our industry collaborators—Medtronic, DePuy Synthes, Stryker, and Bioventus—whose support has been crucial, particularly during the challenging pandemic years, and continues to enable our academic mission.
Special thanks to Ms. Nadia Jaber, our Program Manager, whose outstanding expertise in technology and communication is integral to the growth and innovation of our Program. Her leadership has been instrumental in implementing new models for delivering academic content, ensuring we remain adaptable in a post-pandemic environment. We also thank our dedicated volunteer, Ms. Jane Lee, for her valuable assistance with fellow case log management and Program coordination.
With sincere appreciation, we celebrate another outstanding year in the U of T Spine Program and wish everyone a safe, restful summer and a successful start to the 2025–2026 academic year.
Sincerely,
Michael Fehlings & Albert Yee
Co-Directors, U of T Spine Program
June 9, 2025