Hometown: Columbus, Ohio

Medical school: The Ohio State University College of Medicine

Residency: San Antonio Uniformed Services Health Education Consortium, San Antonio, TX

The Orthopedic Surgery of the Spine Fellowship at Mayo Clinic provides robust training for a well-rounded spine surgeon equipped with an armamentarium to face a variety of spinal pathology. The fellowship accomplishes that through a training model that allows for an ideal balance of graduated surgical autonomy and educators who provide a breadth of expertise and experience. Mayo Clinic has provided me with plenty of opportunities and resources to cultivate my research interests. Lastly, as I am confident that I will enter practice with the highest quality of training, I know that this fellowship provides unique avenues for continued mentorship after graduation for guidance in my clinical practice and professional career.

Hometown: Macon, Georgia

Medical School: Medical College of Georgia

Residency: Carolinas Medical Center/OrthoCarolina, Charlotte, NC

Mayo Clinic's Spine Fellowship checked every box for me for what I wanted in training. The faculty are all outstanding educators, people who value teaching proper indications and surgical technique. The case volume and variety is amazing, with the program offering both bread-and-butter degenerative cases all the way to very complex deformities and revisions. MIS, Open, Navigation, Robotics, Endoscopy, and all approaches to the spine are also here, which is invaluable for a fellow. Surgical graduated autonomy is excellent, and you will quickly become comfortable operating efficiently in all areas of the spine. You will continuously be pushed and challenged here in a positive and beneficial way, with the confidence and skills to start your career in either academics or private practice. I feel very fortunate to be able to train here and if I had to choose all over again, I would still choose Mayo Clinic.