About us

The Combined Spine Program, Divisions of Neurosurgery and Orthopaedic Surgery, at McMaster University offers a one-year Clinical Fellowships to graduates of accredited Residency Programs to pursue further subspecialty training in spinal surgery. The fellowship is based at the Hamilton General Hospital (HGH) site of Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS) which is a busy academic tertiary center for Neurosciences serving a catchment population of over 2.75 million Ontarians.

 

The McMaster Combined Spine Program is one of the busiest in the country. Six surgeons (3 neurosurgeons, and 3 orthopaedic surgeons) with fellowship training in spine surgery have extensive experience providing surgical care for the treatment of degenerative pathology; deformity; trauma; metastatic tumors; primary tumors; infections; and intradural pathology. Fellows are exposed to a wide variety of spinal pathology by provide clinical support to:

 

  • HHS Trauma Program

    • HHS cares for >1000 trauma patients annually with >600 having an Injury Severity Score >16.

    • We care for >650 acute spinal cord injuries (SCI) patients annually. HHS is a member of the Rick Hansen Spinal Cord Injury Registry. Patients are cared for by physiatrists at the HHS SCI rehabilitation unit.

  • CritiCall Ontario

    • Each year we accept >1000 adult patients with complex spinal needs transferred from other hospitals for escalation of care.

  • Juravinski Cancer Center

    • Over 7500 new cancer patients are cared for at HHS.

    • We collaborate with Radiation Oncologists and Orthopaedic Oncologists to provide care to patients with metastatic spine disease and primary spinal tumors.

  • McMaster Children’s Hospital

    • The HHS paediatric program is the fastest-growing and second-busiest in Ontario.

    • We assume the care of patients with spinal disorders after they “graduate” to adult hospitals.