Approximately one-third of all neurosurgical operations at the New York University Medical Center involve surgery of the spine. The program in spinal neurosurgery is directed by Drs. Paul Cooper and Anthony Frempong-Boadu, who perform approximately 400 spinal procedures a year at Tisch Hospital and supervise the chief residents at Bellevue Hospital and the Manhattan VA Medical Center.
Patients are referred from all over the United States and the world. The mix of cases is quite heterogeneous: about 50% have degenerative spinal disease, 20% have spinal tumors, 15% have traumatic conditions, and the remainder have congenital conditions or infections. Residents have the option of taking an 'in-residency fellowship' at a senior level, during which time Drs. Cooper and Frempong-Boadu serve as preceptors.
Dr. Frempong's main interest is in instrumentation of the spine and spinal endoscopy. Dr. Cooper's principal interest is in tumors of the spine and cervical spondylosis.
Dr. Paul Cooper is the Attilio and Olympia Ricciardi Professor of Neurosurgery. He received his B.A. from Columbia College in 1962 and M.D. degree from The University of Virginia in 1966. He did an internship and one year of general surgery training at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland and completed his neurosurgery training at NYU in 1975. In 1981 he was appointed Associate Professor of Neurosurgery in the NYU Department of Neurosurgery and subsequently Professor of Neurosurgery. He has a joint appointment as Professor of Orthopedic Surgery. He is currently Director of Spinal Neurosurgery in the Department of Neurosurgery and attending neurosurgeon at Tisch Hospital and Bellevue Hospital. His earlier interests and research were in central nervous system trauma and pituitary surgery. His major clinical interest is spinal surgery and he confines his practice to spinal neurosurgery. He has published over 150 scientific papers and chapters and edited four books. He co-edited The Practice of Neurosurgery, a standard neurosurgical text. He is on the editorial board of Spine, Neurosurgery, and Spinal Surgery and is an ad hoc reviewer for the New England Journal of Medicine. Dr. Cooper is past-president of the Cervical Spine Research Society.
Dr. Anthony Frempong-Boadu graduated from Temple University School of Medicine in 1992, and completed his neurosurgical training at NYU in 1999. He subsequently completed a minimally invasive and complex spine fellowship at the University of Florida before returning to join the NYU faculty. He specializes in spinal trauma, complex and reconstructive spinal surgery, endoscopic and minimally invasive spinal surgery, and surgery of primary and metastatic spinal cord and spinal column tumors.
