Biography
I manage the following conditions and work with the patient to achieve their goal:
1. Degenerative conditions: disc herniations & stenosis (cervical/thoracic/lumbar), spondylolisthesis, OPLL, ankylosing spondylitis, DISH, cervical/thoracic myelopathy
2. Spinal deformity: Congenital cervical fusion (Klippel-Feil), Scoliosis, kyphosis, isthmic spondylolisthesis, Syndromic spinal conditions (Neurofibromatosis, Marfan's) and Skeletal dysplasias. My interests in deformity include adult spinal deformity and revision surgeries needing osteotomies.
3. Spine tumors: My areas of special interest include minimally invasive management of metastatic spine tumors, total en bloc resection of primary spine tumors (pediatric/adult), and operative and non-operative management of pathologic spine fractures. I am passionate about the application of research and innovation toward the improvement of care for spine tumor patients. Recently, we published our research demonstrating the use of Vancomycin antibiotic powder during spine tumor surgery resulted in a 50% decrease in wound infections. I am active in an international spine tumor group (AO Tumor Knowledge Forum) and work with this group to advance the care of spine tumor patients. I treat primary and metastatic tumors of the spine form occiput to sacrum
4. Spine trauma: fractures from occiput to sacrum and spinal cord injury
5. Sports spine: injuries to the spine arising from sporting or training injuries
Professional Background
Dr. Mesfin is the Division Chief of Spine Surgery and an Associate Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery, Neurosurgery, Biomedical Engineering and Public Health at the University of Rochester. He has also served as the Director of the Louis A. Goldstein Spine Surgery Fellowship. He completed his Orthopaedic Surgery Residency at the John Hopkins Hospital. He completed the prestigious Adult and Pediatric Spine Surgery Fellowship at the Washington University in St. Louis. He also completed traveling fellowships focusing on spine oncology at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, Kanazawa University and Keio University in Japan and at the Rizzoli Orthopaedic Institute in Italy.
Dr. Mesfin is active in research and has presented at more than 250 local, national and international meetings along with more than 150 peer reviewed publications. He is a member of the Cervical Spine Research Society, Scoliosis Research Society, North American Spine Society, Lumbar Spine Research Society. He is also member of orthopaedic organizations: American Orthopaedic Association, AAOS, and the scientific chair of the J. Robert Gladden Society. He has won several awards for his research and has received grant funding for his spine research. He has served in the United States Army Reserves and has deployed to Afghanistan as the Orthopaedic Surgeon of a Forward Surgical Team (FST). He is interested in Global Health and has taught and operated at a trauma center in Ethiopia.
Research
Dr. Mesfin is interested in clinical outcomes research including following spine tumor surgery and basic science degenerative disc disease research. He has received grant funding for his research. He has more than 140 peer reviewed publications and more than 220 national and international presentations.
He is a member of the Scoliosis Research Society. Cervical Spine Research Society, North American Spine Society, and the Lumbar Spine Research Society. He is also a member of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, J. Robert Gladden Society, National Medical Association and the American Orthopaedic Association. Dr. Mesfin has given numerous national and international presentations, authored many spine related publications in peer-reviewed journals and has won awards for his research. He also has translation research laboratory evaluating cell signaling mechanisms involved in degenerative disc disease.
Awards
2021 - 2021
ABC-AOA Travelling Fellowship
Sponsor: American Orthopedic Association
2020 - 2021
Louis Goldstein Research Grant
Sponsor: University of Rochester Department of Orthopedics
2019 - 2019
Best Paper Award
Sponsor: Global Spine Journal
2019 - 2019
Scoliosis Research Society International Traveling Fellowship
2018 - 2018
Russell Hibbs Award Nominee for Best Clinical Presentation
2017 - 2017
Cervical Spine Research Society International Travelling Fellowship
2016 - 2016
John H. Moe Award Nominee for Best Basic Science Poster, Scoliosis Research Society
2015
North American Travelling Fellowship (NATF)
Sponsor: American Orthopaedic Association
2014
Goldstein Research Award
Sponsor: University of Rochester Department of Orthopaedic Surgery
2014
New Investigator Grant
Sponsor: Orthopaedic Research Education Foundation
2012
Cervical Spine Research Society Resident/Fellow Paper Award
2012
Best Paper Outcomes/Cost-utility
Sponsor: North American Spine Society
2012
Russel Hibbs Award Nominee for Best Clinical Presentation
Sponsor: Scoliosis Research Society
2012
1st Place Winner Resident/Fellow Research Competition
Sponsor: National Medical Association-Orthopaedic Section
2012
Jacquelin Perry Award for Best Paper
Sponsor: Orthopaedic Rehabilitation Association
2012
Whitecloud Award Nominee for Best Basic Science Presentation
Sponsor: IMAST
Location: Istanbul, Turkey
2012
Eastern Orthopaedic Association Resident/Fellow Research Award
Location: Lake George, New York
2011
AAOS/OREF/ORS Clinician Scholar Development Program Awardee
2011
Russel Hibbs Award Winner for Best Clinical Presentation
Sponsor: Scoliosis Research Society
2011
American Orthopaedic Association (AOA) Emerging Leaders Program
Sponsor: American Orthopaedic Association
2009
2nd Place winner OREF Virginia Region Resident Research Competition
Sponsor: Orthopaedic Research Education Fund
2004 - 2005
Emerging Scholar Award, National Medical Association
2003 - 2004
Bristol-Myers Squibb-NMF Fellowship Program in Academic Medicine
2002
American Pediatric Society & Society for Pediatric Research Fellow
1999
Fogarty/MIRT Research Fellow
Location: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
1997
University of Maryland Delegate Scholarship Recipient
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Publications
Journal Articles
3/4/2021
Hollenberg AM, Maqsoodi N, Phan A, Huber A, Jubril A, Baldwin AL, Yokogawa N, Eliseev RA, Mesfin A. "Bone Morphogenic Protein-2 Signaling in Human Disc Degeneration and Correlation to the Pfirrmann MRI Grading System." The spine journal : official journal of the North American Spine Society.. 2021 Mar 4; Epub 2021 Mar 04.
1/4/2021
Bernstein DN, Melone G, Jubril A, Zhang J, Mesfin A. "Evaluating Social Media Use Among Active American Members of the Cervical Spine Research Society." Clinical spine surgery.. 2021 Jan 4; Publish Ahead of PrintEpub 2021 Jan 04.
11/12/2020
Richardson MA, Bernstein DN, Mesfin A. "Manuscript Characteristics Associated with the Altmetrics Score and Social Media Presence: An Analysis of Seven Spine Journals." The spine journal : official journal of the North American Spine Society.. 2020 Nov 12; Epub 2020 Nov 12.
Books & Chapters
2020
Chapter Title: Minimally Invasive Approaches to Thoracic and Lumbar Spine Metastatic Spine Disease.
Book Title: Surgical Spinal Oncology
Author List: Vess E, Bowen Q, Mesfin A
Published By: Springer 2020
2019
Chapter Title: Thoracic Discectomy
Book Title: The Textbook of Spinal Surgery
Author List: Mesfin A. Sherif S
Published By: Wolters Kluwer Health 2019
2019
Chapter Title: Correction of cervical scoliosis & hemivertebra resection.
Book Title: Cervical Spine Surgery: Standard and Advanced Techniques
Author List: Mesfin A, Koller H, Riew KD
Published By: Springer 2019
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