The evening will be hosted by Bruce Beck, lead sports anchor at NBC 4 New York, and guests will be treated to a musical performance by nine-time Grammy Award-winner Sheryl Crow, who was recently inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

“We are privileged to recognize Dr. Cammisa for his outstanding contributions to HSS and to the field of spine surgery,” said Bryan T. Kelly, MD, MBA, HSS president, surgeon-in-chief and medical director. “Throughout his distinguished career, Dr. Cammisa has been an international leader in clinical care, education and research. His pioneering efforts have advanced minimally invasive spine surgery and motion preservation techniques, bringing innovations to patients worldwide.”

“It is an honor to present Joe and Clara Wu Tsai with the 2023 Tribute Dinner Award. As owners of two iconic professional basketball teams, they understand the importance of high-level musculoskeletal care to ensure peak performance in athletes,” said Louis A. Shapiro CEO at HSS. “As philanthropists, the Tsai’s are having a profound impact on the health and well-being of people globally through their investments in neuroscience and the science of human performance.”

Funds raised at the Tribute Dinner will advance the HSS mission to provide the highest quality care to help people everywhere return to what they need and love to do. Guests will include leaders and luminaries in business, health care, sports, philanthropy, finance, and entertainment.

The cocktail reception will begin at 6:15 p.m. Dinner, the award ceremony and Sheryl Crow’s performance will start at 7:15 p.m.

FRANK P. CAMMISA, JR., MD

Frank P. Cammisa, Jr., MD, is Chief Emeritus of HSS Spine and a Professor of Clinical Surgery at Weill Cornell Medical College. He specializes in the surgical treatment of spinal disorders. His areas of expertise include spinal reconstructive surgery, minimally invasive surgery, athletic spinal injuries, and motion preservation techniques. He served as Chief of the HSS Spine Service for 22 years.  Under his leadership, the service grew into a multidisciplinary spine program inspiring significant advances in patient care and substantial growth of our world-class spinal surgical educational program.  During Dr. Cammisa’s leadership, the Spine Fellowship Program trained over 120 clinical fellows that are represented around the globe.  In addition, he founded the Integrated Spine Research Program at HSS to bring research from concept to clinical driving innovation in spine care and providing opportunities for research fellows and students. 

In addition to Dr. Cammisa’s active clinical practice, he conducts research to advance the treatment of complex spine conditions. He has received numerous prestigious research grants from various funding agencies, including the National Institutes of Health. He has been recognized by New York Magazine as one of “12 doctors who are reinventing medicine,” based on his research of artificial disc replacement to relieve debilitating back and neck pain.  He is on the medical staff of the New York Giants and is a spinal surgery consultant to the National Hockey League Players Association.   

Dr. Cammisa has published over 250 original scientific papers in prestigious medical journals and has made more than 500 scientific presentations at national and international meetings.  He has co-authored more than 30 chapters in medical textbooks and edited a textbook titled “Dynamic Reconstruction of the Spine.” His numerous awards include the Lewis Clark Wagner Award, the AOA North American Traveling Fellowship, the Nancy Kane Bischoff Award for Teaching, EOA Spine Research Award and Founder’s Award, the NASS Outstanding Paper Award, the LSRS Best Paper Award, the ISSLS Best Paper Award, Best Paper and the Best Clinical Paper Awards at IMAST and the Outstanding Publication Award from the Austrian Society for Spine Surgery.

Dr. Cammisa graduated from Tufts University, summa cum laude with election to Phi Beta Kappa. He graduated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University and was elected to Alpha Omega Alpha National Honor Medical Society. He completed his general surgery residency at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center and his orthopedic surgery residency at Hospital for Special Surgery. His fellowship in spinal surgery was completed in the Departments of Orthopedic Surgery and Neurological Surgery at the University of Miami, Jackson Memorial Medical Center and The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis. 

JOSEPH C. TSAI

Joe Tsai is a co-founder and executive vice chairman of Alibaba Group. He is a member of the board of directors of Alibaba Group and its financial services affiliate, Ant Group.

Mr. Tsai is governor of the Brooklyn Nets, alternate governor of the New York Liberty, and chairman of the teams’ home arena, Barclays Center. He played Division 1 lacrosse at Yale and owns two professional indoor lacrosse teams in the National Lacrosse League: the San Diego Seals and the Las Vegas Desert Dogs. Mr. Tsai is an investor in the Premier Lacrosse League and the Los Angeles Football Club of Major League Soccer.

Through the Joe and Clara Tsai Foundation, Mr. Tsai and his wife, Clara, are active philanthropists supporting initiatives in education, research, social justice, economic mobility, the arts and humanitarian relief during the COVID-19 pandemic. He is a founding board member of The Asian American Foundation (TAAF), a non-profit that provides resources to Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities to combat hate and discrimination and support AAPI advocacy, prosperity and representation.

Mr. Tsai is a member of the J.P. Morgan International Council, EXOR Partners Council, and International Advisory Council of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. He is a trustee of The Lawrenceville School.

Prior to Alibaba Group, Mr. Tsai was a private equity investor in Asia for Investor AB of Sweden’s Wallenberg family. He practiced tax law as an associate with Sullivan & Cromwell LLP in New York. He is a graduate of Yale College, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1986, and Yale Law School, where he received his JD degree in 1990.

CLARA WU TSAI

Clara Wu Tsai is a businesswoman, investor, and philanthropist. Ms. Wu Tsai is the governor of the WNBA's New York Liberty and, along with her husband, is an owner of the NBA's Brooklyn Nets and the NLL's San Diego Seals. As vice chair of BSE Global, she oversees all matters relating to civic and community engagement, fan development and the role Barclays Center plays within Brooklyn.

As founder of the Joe and Clara Tsai Foundation, Ms. Wu Tsai pursues philanthropic investments across the arts, sciences and social justice spaces. She established the Social Justice Fund in 2020 to work toward economic mobility and racial justice in Brooklyn, New York. She is a founding partner of the REFORM Alliance, which seeks to reform the criminal justice system.

In science and technology, the Foundation supports the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute at Stanford University and the Wu Tsai Institute at Yale University for understanding human cognition. In 2020, Ms. Wu Tsai founded the Wu Tsai Human Performance Alliance, which works across six universities to bring together world-class talent to advance the science of human performance.

Ms. Wu Tsai serves on the boards of trustees for Stanford University, New York Presbyterian Hospital and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. She serves on the advisory board for the Institute for Protein Design at the University of Washington. She was an executive producer of Into the Okavango, a 2018 conservation documentary; Blue Bayou, a 2021 drama; and Unfinished Business, a 2022 documentary about the WNBA.

Previously, Ms. Wu Tsai was general manager of the Hong Kong operations of Taobao, China’s

largest online shopping website, and a vice president at American Express in New York and Hong Kong. Ms. Wu Tsai holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Relations and a Master of Arts degree in International Policy Studies from Stanford University, as well as an MBA degree from Harvard University.

Augmented reality refers to digital information that is superimposed on a user’s view of the physical environment, providing images that can’t be seen with the naked eye. AR navigation in spine surgery superimposes 3D images of a patient’s anatomy onto the surgeon’s view of the operative field. Critical elements include a preoperative CT scan of the patient’s spine, which is used to plan and perform the surgery, and an augmented reality headset worn during the procedure.

The system Dr. Cammisa uses consists of a near-eye-display headset and the elements of a traditional navigation system. During surgery, it accurately determines the position of surgical instruments in real time and superimposes them on the patient's CT data. It has been likened to giving surgeons “x-ray vision,” enabling them to see structures underneath the skin.

“The technology allows us to visualize the patient’s 3D spinal anatomy during surgery to accurately guide instruments and place surgical implants, such as pedicle screws, while looking directly at the patient rather than at a separate computer screen,” Dr. Cammisa explained. “Improved control and visualization of the patient’s anatomy and critical structures can lead to a more precise, efficient surgery and can enhance safety." 

He notes that the technology allows for a highly personalized surgery that can be used for most spinal procedures requiring the use of implants. People with degenerative disc disease, spinal stenosis and spinal deformities may be candidates.

Dr. Cammisa notes that as more surgeries are performed with the augmented reality system, patient follow-up and data collection will enable HSS researchers to compare AR to other technologies used in spine surgery to evaluate outcomes.

HSS investigators, led by Frank P. Cammisa, Jr., MD, compared the five-year outcomes of decompression surgery with interlaminar stabilization to decompression with posterior lumbar fusion in patients 65 years old and younger.

The researchers found beneficial outcomes in the spine stabilization group of patients when compared with the spine fusion group of patients.

Read the full article at Becker's Spine Review.

The research, titled, "Interlaminar Stabilization Surgery vs. Posterior Lumbar Fusion Surgery: Five-Year Follow Up in the ≤ 65 Year-Old Patient," was presented today at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Annual Meeting in Las Vegas. 

Lumbar spinal stenosis occurs when the space around the spinal cord narrows, putting pressure on the nerves traveling through the lower back into the legs. When pain is severe and ongoing, and conservative treatments fail to provide relief, patients often consider surgery. 

“Many common conditions of the spine can result in lumbar spinal stenosis, such as a herniated disc, spondylolisthesis, or degenerative joint disease (osteoarthritis),” explains Antonio Brecevich, MD, a research fellow in the Spine Service at Hospital for Special Surgery who presented the study. "A procedure called 'decompression surgery' is performed to remove a portion of a bone, damaged disc or ligament that is putting pressure on the nerves and causing pain."

Decompression surgery is widely considered the standard treatment for lumbar spinal stenosis, and it may be performed with another procedure, such as spinal fusion, to stabilize the spine, says Frank P. Cammisa Jr., MD, chief emeritus of the Spine Service at HSS and senior investigator. "Recent trends indicate that spine fusion surgery has disproportionately increased, despite being the more expensive and invasive approach," he noted. "Serving as an intermediate option to decompression alone and decompression with spinal fusion, our study looked at interlaminar stabilization as a less invasive, non-fusion surgical treatment option that could provide stability and also preserve motion in the spine." 

"Degenerative spinal stenosis is most commonly seen in older patients and there aren’t many studies on treatment options available to the younger and more active patient population under age 65," said Dr. Brecevich. "Spine surgeons are seeing increasing numbers of younger patients with the condition, and the goal of our study was to see how they fared."

HSS investigators set out to compare the five-year outcomes of decompression surgery plus interlaminar stabilization (D+ILS) to decompression plus posterior lumbar fusion (D+PLF) in patients 65 and younger. They collected data from the original randomized controlled Investigational Device Exemption clinical trial for the Coflex Interlaminar Stabilization Device, which included 322 patients from 21 sites in the United States enrolled between 2006 and 2008. 

The HSS study included 181 patients from the clinical trial, with 131 in the D+ILS group and 50 in the D+PLF group. The mean age in both groups was 56 years old. Data analysis revealed that patients in the spine stabilization group had a shorter hospital stay compared to patients in the spine fusion group (1.79 days versus 3.06 days). Significantly less time was needed to perform the surgery in the spine stabilization group (96.5 minutes versus 153.3 minutes in the spine fusion group). Device-related complications in the first 24 months following surgery affected less than one percent (0.8 percent) of spine stabilization patients versus six percent of spine fusion patients.   

At five-year follow-up, no statistically significant difference in patient-reported outcomes was found between the two groups in terms of pain relief, function or patient satisfaction. 

"Decompression surgery with interlaminar stabilization has been shown to be a durable, safe and effective treatment option for the younger spinal stenosis patient with or without low grade spondylolisthesis," the researchers concluded. "It is significantly less invasive for the patient, as measured by shorter operative times, decreased blood loss, and shorter lengths of hospital stay, with fewer device-related complications. In this younger and more physically active patient population, we believe this safe and efficacious surgery should be considered before more invasive fusion surgery."

The researchers also noted that the escalation of hospital costs is a growing concern and that interlaminar spine stabilization is a much more cost-effective option. 

This article appeared on TheQPost.com.

Read the full article at nhl.com.

Read the full article at espn.com

Additional Coverage:

• Becker's Spine Review: Dr. Frank Cammisa to perform cervical spine surgery on Detroit Red Wings defenseman Mike Green: 3 takeaways
• The Detroit News: Mike Green surgery shuffles Red Wings defense
• The Providence Journal: March 23, 2018 print issue