Research physicians with the Spine Institute of Louisiana were recently honored at the North American Spine Society’s 27^th Annual Meeting, October 24-27, 2012 in Dallas, Texas with this year’s top research award:  the 2012 Outstanding Paper Award for Surgical Science.  Drs. Pierce Nunley, Ajay Jawahar, David Cavanaugh, Charles Gordon, Euby Kerr and Andrew Utter won the award for their research paper entitled, Symptomatic Adjacent Segment Disease Following Cervical Total Disc Replacement:  Reexamining the Clinical and Radiological Evidence with Established Criteria.    

This is the only “author group” with the same research physicians to win this award for a second time.  “No one else has won this award twice,” says Dr. Pierce Nunley, Medical Director of the Spine Institute of Louisiana and Associate Professor of Orthopedic Surgery at the LSU-Health Sciences Center in Shreveport.  “We are very honored and pleased that the Spine Institute of Louisiana is being recognized by NASS and The Spine Journal - leaders in advancing spine care research nationally and internationally.”  NASS and The Spine Journal also awarded physicians with the Spine Institute of Louisiana the Outstanding Paper Award for Surgical Science in 2010.

In addition to the top award of $10,000.00, the research paper will be published in The Spine Journal; an international and multidisciplinary journal “…that publishes original, peer-reviewed articles on research and treatment related to the spine…”  NASS has an international membership of over 6,500 medical specialists, including spine surgeons and physicians, and other medical professionals active in spine care.

Medical Research Director Dr. Ajay Jawahar says the Spine Institute of Louisiana Foundation will use the award money to further efforts in spine research.    Last year, the Foundation was awarded the “21^st Century Grant” of over $80,700.00.00 by the Cervical Spine Research Society; the second time the CSRS has awarded the Spine Institute of Louisiana a grant for excellence in scientific research.

Dr. Nunley - and colleague Dr. Jawahar - has also been recognized by The Spine Review as one of the top “15 Spine Surgeons Recognized for Research” by professional societies over the past year.  And quite notably, Dr. Nunley was named one of “The 28 Top Spine Surgeons in America” this year.  Orthopedics This Week compiled the list of top spine surgeons by asking leading spine surgeons across the country “…to select the best of their peers.”