The International Society for the Study of the Lumbar Spine awarded Swiss-Canadian spine surgeon Max Aebi, MD, the 2016 Lifetime Achievement Award, according to Spine.
He was originally certified as a general surgeon in 1980 and then orthopedic surgery in 1982. He switched to neurosurgery after additional training and continued down that path for the remainder of his career. Here are five things to know about Dr. Aebi:
1. He served as professor and chair of the Institute for Evaluation Research in Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Bern in Switzerland and the adjunct professor in the department of surgery at McGill University in Canada, according to the Spinal News International.
2. He is a past president of the Spine Society Europe and is a member of more than 20 professional organizations, including the Orthopaedic Research Society, Cervical Spine Research Society and Swiss Society of Surgery.
3. In addition to his clinical work, Dr. Aebi was the editor-in-chief of the European Spine Journal and edited many books.
4. During his career, Dr. Aebi performed more than 6,000 surgical procedures in including orthopedic surgery, spine and traumatology.
5. He built the first academic spine unit in Switzerland and he was invited to chair orthopedic surgery at McGill University in Montreal. He later became the surgeon-in-chief of McGill University Health Center.