Program Chairman
Alan T. Villavicencio, M.D.

Alan T. Villavicencio, M.D. earned his M.D. from Harvard Medical School and completed his neurosurgical residency at Duke University. He went on to perform an orthopedic spine surgery fellowship at the Institute for Spinal Disorders at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles. Dr. Villavicencio has extensive training in the treatment of spinal deformity, scoliosis, artificial disc replacement and minimally invasive spine surgery including endoscopy. Dr. Villavicencio has published more than 50 papers and is the primary investigator in several ongoing prospective randomized trials on both cranial and spinal surgery.

Distinguished Visiting Professor
Ketan R. Bulsara, M.D.

Dr. Ketan R. Bulsara is an assistant professor in the Department of Neurosurgery at Yale University School of Medicine. He is a board certified neurosurgeon who has dual fellowship training in endovascular neurosurgery and skull base/cerebrovascular microsurgery. He has won numerous awards from the American Association of Neurological Surgeons and the Congress of Neurological Surgeons. Dr. Bulsara has consistently been listed as one of the top physicians and surgeons in the United States by the Consumer Research Group of America based in Washington D.C. Prior to his appointment at Yale, he directed the Walter Dandy Neurosurgical Intensive Care unit and served as the Director of Skull Base and Cerebrovascular neurosurgery at the University of Missouri-Columbia.

Jeffrey Thramann, M.D.
Dr. Thramann received his Bachelor of Science degree from the United States Military Academy at West Point and his M.D. from the Cornell University Medical College. He completed his neurosurgical residency and spine surgery fellowship at the distinguished Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix. Founder of the Boulder Back Institute, Dr. Thramann specializes in the comprehensive treatment of spine disorders with an emphasis on minimally invasive techniques.

Lee Nelson, M.D.
Dr. Nelson received his MD from the Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Medical Center in Houston. He has had extensive training in the treatment of spinal trauma at the Ben Taub General Hospital, one of the largest and most active Level 1 trauma centers in the country and in the surgical and nonsurgical management of spinal oncology from his experience at the renowned M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.

Gregory Arends, M.D.
Dr. Arends specializes in diagnostic and therapeutic spinal injections and interventional techniques. He received his M.D. from the Wayne State University School of Medicine and completed his residency in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (Physiatry) at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago and Northwestern University. His fellowship in Interventional Spine was through the Emory/Georgia Pain Physicians Pain Management Fellowship in Atlanta.
Lee McNeely, M.D.
Dr. McNeely trained at the University of Utah and was board certified in 1990. He has been practicing in Boulder since 1992 and working extensively with the Rocky Mountain Cyberknife Program since February 2003. His special interests include prostate cancer, spine lesions, and respiratory tracking for lung tumors under Cyberknife treatment.
Daniel S. Bennett, M.D.
Dr. Bennett is an interventional spine/pain medicine physician from Denver, Colorado. He is the Founder and immediate past-Chairman of the Board of Directors of The National Pain Foundation. He has served on the Board of Directors of the North American Neuromodulation Society and is actively involved with the American Academy of Pain Medicine.
John A. Odom, M.D.
Dr. Odom graduated from the University of Tennessee School of Medicine in 1962, spent two years in general surgery training at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and completed his training in Boston at Lahey Clinic – Shriner’s – Tufts University orthopedic residency program. He became board certified by the American Board of orthopedic Surgery in 1971 and is a member of several spinal societies including the Scoliosis Research Society.
Alan Zacharias, M.D.
Dr. Zacharias is a graduate of the University of Mississippi School of Medicine. He completed his neurology residency at the University of Virginia and fellowship in neuromuscular disease and EMG at Emory University. He was the former director of the EMG laboratory at Emory before entering private practice. He is currently in Boulder with Associated Neurologists. He practices general neurology with special interest in neuromuscular disease.
John J. Oro, M.D.
Dr. Oro received his neurosurgical training at the University of Missouri Health Sciences Center in Columbia , Missouri and joined the faculty in 1984. In 1990, he became Director of the Neurological Surgery Training Program and, in 1991, Chief of the Division of Neurological Surgery. In 2005 he joined The Medical Center of Aurora as Medical Director of Neurosurgery and as Director of The Neurosurgery Center of Colorado.
Sanjay Misra, M.D.
Dr Misra is an Australian neurosurgeon. He graduated Medicine and Surgery from the University of New South Wales and was awarded Class One Honors. His experience in neurosurgery was gained at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Prince of Wales Hospital and Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children. He obtained advanced neurosurgery fellowship training in Australia and Europe. During his career he has taught, done fellowships and has been on the faculty at the University of Arkansas, the University of Colorado and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.