ABOUT THE DOCTOR

Mark S. Stern, M.D.

Board Certified Neurosurgeon/ Spine Surgeon

Mark S. Stern, MD, is board certified by the American Board of Neurosurgery. He is an active member of the American Association of Neurosurgeons, California Neurosurgeons Association, San Diego Academy of Neurosurgeons, and American Medical Association. Dr. Stern began his medical training at the Albany Medical College in New York. While in medical school, he was awarded a fellowship in oncology at Leads Infirmary in Leads, England. Upon completing his fellowship, he accepted an internship and residency at Georgetown University, where he was immersed in general surgery. His primary interest however remained spinal disorders, pain management, and pediatric neurosurgery. During this time, he focused on writing a number of research articles on these topics and would eventually be rewarded with a fellowship in neurological surgery from the National Institute of Health (NIH).  Upon completion of this second fellowship, Dr. Stern moved to Los Angeles to finish his residency training at the University of Southern California. Here he continued to perfect his microsurgical skills in the areas of vascular tumors, aneurysms, cranial base brain tumors, and all manner of spinal pathology.

Dr. Stern is currently the chief of the division of neurosurgery at Palomar Medical Center. Under his leadership, he has instituted a number of protocols at both hospitals such as Radiosurgery, Stereotactic surgery and minimally invasive neurosurgery and micro neurosurgery. However, one of the most important items brought by Dr. Stern was the introduction of breakthrough technology, such as image-guided procedures, to our North County hospitals. His persistence to use new technology to provide high quality and efficient care has enhanced the success rate of numerous surgeries.

ABOUT THE DOCTOR:

Mario Ammirati, M.D.
Board Certified Neurosurgeon/ Spine Surgeon

Dr. Mario Ammirati is a board-certified neurosurgeon who recently opened his private practice in Sorrento Valley (San Diego) after 20+ years of operating his own skull base surgery lab in Ohio. He has two clinics – one in Sorrento Valley and one in La Mesa. He performs surgery at Sharp Grossmont Hospital and Surgical Center of San Diego (and currently in the credentialing process for Paradise Valley Hospital and several more). He has 30+ years of neurosurgical and spine surgery experience; he has been published in 160+ medical journals and publications, and he has co-written the guidelines for the treatment of brain metastases and primary brain tumors for the American Neurosurgical and Cancer Associations. Newsweek Magazine published a physician-voted survey in which Dr. Ammirati was listed among the “Top 3% of Neurosurgeons in the U.S. in 2015.”

Dr. Ammirati has performed 4,000+ procedures on skull base and benign and malignant tumors in the brain and spine/lumbar. He’s known by his peers for correctly diagnosing and treating patients who were otherwise misdiagnosed (e.g. brain tumors hidden behind blood clots; normal pressure hydrocephalus misdiagnosed as dementia/Alzheimer’s). He takes personal injury cases, and has 20+ years of experience as a medical expert – providing IMEs and testifying for both plaintiff and defense attorneys.

He trained in neurosurgery at Northwestern University Medical School. Afterwards, he completed a 2-year fellowship with Professor Samii, the leading world expert in skull base neurosurgery. He contributed to writing the guidelines for the treatment of brain metastases and Brain Tumors on behalf of American Neurosurgical/Cancer Associations. Dr. Ammirati was one of the first neurosurgeons in the USA to use computers and intraoperative Computerized Tomography (CT) to place instrumentations (screws) in the spine, thereby decreasing the number of badly-positioned screws and hence the need for reoperation while optimizing patient outcomes.

Since the beginning of his career in 1989, Dr. Ammirati has personally trained more than 120 neurosurgery residents and fellows from all over the world in the delicate art of neurosurgery/skull base surgery and spine surgery. These surgeons have used the techniques that they learned from Dr. Ammirati at prestigious neurosurgical institutions such as, amongst others, Harvard and Cleveland Clinic. He is also one of the world’s foremost leaders in diagnosing, removing and treating benign brain tumors with care and precision, while prioritizing his patients’ quality of life and physical functions. He prides himself in being the most considerate doctor to his patients, who meet him at the most vulnerable time in their lives.

Dr. Ammirati’s treatment philosophy is based on adherence to the most up to date reliable scientific evidence that is tailored to the need of each individual/unique patient. Indeed, no guideline completely fits each unique patient.

Dr. Ammirati has contributed chapters on Skull Base Surgery in the last 3 editions of the #1 neurosurgery textbook in the world (Youman’s Neurological Surgery), and his contributions to the advances of medicine in general include authoring 13+ textbooks on skull base tumors and meningiomas, speaking at hundreds of conferences over 40 years, and publishing more than 165 peer-reviewed research papers that uncover and perpetually evolve techniques to improve outcomes and lives through neurosurgery.

ABOUT THE DOCTOR:

Eric S. Korsh, M.D, F.A.A.O.S.

Board Certified Orthopaedic Surgeon
Fellowship Trained Spinal Surgeon
 
Dr. Eric Korsh has practiced in the San Diego area 1997. He received his medical degree from Rutgers- NJ Medical School. After completing his orthopaedic surgery residency at Seton Hall University he completed a spinal surgery fellowship at The Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City which is considered the premier orthopaedic hospital in the world.

While Dr. Korsh treats the entire range of orthopaedic injuries, he is considered to be an expert in spinal surgery. He has treated many professional and elite amateur athletes, as well as countless weekend warriors. Dr. Korsh treats injuries to the entire spine including the cervical, thoracic and lumbar regions. His surgical expertise includes Minimally Invasive Spinal (MIS) Procedures, disc replacement surgery, and anterior and posterior fusions.

Dr. Korsh considers surgery to be a last resort and he extensively utilizes non-operative modalities and a multidisciplinary approach to the treatment of all orthopaedic injuries.

ABOUT THE DOCTOR:

Choll W. Kim, M.D., Ph.D
Board Certified Orthopaedic Spine Surgeon

Dr. Choll Kim graduated cum laude from Harvard Medical School and completed his fellowship training in complex spine surgery at the Mayo Clinic. In addition, he is double board certified by the American Board of Orthopedic Surgeons and the American Board of Spine Surgery.

Dr. Kim is an internationally recognized expert in the field of computer-assisted minimally invasive spine surgery. He has trained and continues to train specialists throughout the country on the safe and effective application of state-of-the-art techniques using image guidance and navigation technologies.

Dr. Kim utilizes a broad range of minimally invasive treatments to effectively treat all aspects of complex spinal disorders, including herniated disks, spinal stenosis, adult scoliosis, spondylolisthesis, traumatic injuries, tumors, and infections throughout the entire spine from the neck to the low back. He is one of only a handful of surgeons in the world to master laser endoscopic spine surgery (LESS), a state-of-the-art minimally invasive procedure that effectively treats herniated disks, radiculopathy and sciatica. The LESS procedure can be performed under local anesthesia, in a same day setting and with a small stab incision that is covered with a band aid.

A leader in his field, Dr. Kim is the founder and past-president of the Society for Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery (SMISS), the founder of Minimally Invasive Spine Centers of Excellence (MIS-COE), the chair of the MIS Committee for the International Society for the Advancement of Spine Surgery (ISASS), the director of the Advanced Spine & Joint Institute at Alvarado Hospital and an associate clinical professor at the University of California, San Diego.

Furthermore, Dr. Kim is a Qualified Medical Evaluator and a past voting member of the FDA Orthopedic Devices Panel, which reviews all new spinal technologies. He has designed minimally invasive instrumentation used by surgeons around the world. Dr. Kim is an active member of the North American Spine Society (NASS) and the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons (AAOS), and a fellow of the Scoliosis Research Society. Dr. Kim has over 200 publications and presentations.