Spine surgeons working with academic spine programs should remember their "true north"— exceptional patient care — to stay strong in the new year, Ali Baaj, MD, said.
Dr. Baaj, Banner's chief of spine surgery, is preparing to move to Chicago-based Northwestern Medicine where he will be professor and vice chair, director of spinal technology and innovation and director of the spine fellowship program in the neurosurgery department.
Ahead of his move, Dr. Baaj spoke with Becker's about his outlook for Northwestern's spine department and his advice for academic spine programs to thrive in 2025.
Note: This conversation was lightly edited for clarity.
Question: Tell me more about your decision to move to Northwestern.
Dr. Ali Baaj: Joining Northwestern medicine is a really unique opportunity for me to align with a department that is nationally ranked and laser focused on two of my primary passions, the first being expanding access to enabling spine technology like navigation, robotics and minimally invasive spine to patients who are eligible for it. The second is expanding the academic and clinical footprint of the department and the institution both nationally and globally. This really just comes at a great time for me as I consider what's important for me in the next phase of my professional career.
Q: What kind of vision do you have for the spine department at Northwestern?
AB: Northwestern medicine really boasts some of the most talented neurosurgeons, as well as orthopedic spine surgeons. The faculty are really world-class and offer probably some of the most advanced spine surgical solutions, including deformity with Tyler Koski, MD, advanced oncology with Jean-Paul Wolinsky, MD, and orthopedic spine surgeon Alpesh Patel, MD, who's the the past president of the Cervical Spine Research Society, and others as well. What I see myself doing is complementing that team with my passion for advanced enabling technologies and taking things like spinal navigation, robotics, really to the next level and cementing this institution and this department as a center for both technical and technological excellence in spine surgery.
Q: What are some of your top accomplishments at Banner Health you're reflecting on? Are you happy with the way you're leaving the spine department there?
AB: When I joined Banner Health, which is a phenomenal organization, we were charged with a mission to build a brand new neurosurgical department under the leadership of our chair, Peter Nakaji, MD. I was specifically asked to build an academic spine program from the ground up in one of the largest and rapidly growing demographics in the U.S. Looking back over the last few years, we established a very robust both academic university as well as community-based group of neurosurgeons, orthopedic spine surgeons with a research fellowship program, with a clinical fellowship program. We now have a neurosurgical residency, more than 100 abstracts, capers, lectures given both regionally, nationally and internationally. I could not be any more proud of the work that's been done here. The future is very bright for this health system and for this spine division at Banner moving forward.
Q: When you're thinking about the academic setting and teaching the next generation of spine surgeons, what advice do you have for other programs and other physicians in similar positions as yours?
AB: I always think of three main things. No. 1 is to really focus on exceptional patient care. We are facing tremendous challenges administratively with the current healthcare environment, changes in reimbursement and reimbursements payers. The No. 1 thing I tell all the people around me is don't lose track of the true north, which is enjoying patient care and delivering great patient care in and outside of the operating room. Everything else we do is complimentary.
No. 2, specifically in spine, is we need to continue the momentum of interdisciplinary collaboration and comprehensive spine program building. That way you really build bridges across different departments, like orthopedic surgery and neurosurgery.
The last thing is to embrace technology and embrace innovative techniques. Robotics is going to be a main part of what we do in the future. We're just delving into artificial intelligence and the capacity for that. Those three attributes are really going to be important for any program, and in the years to come.