The American Association of Neurological Surgeons has named spine surgeon Roger Härtl the association’s Humanitarian of the Year.
Roger Härtl Receives AANS 2022 Humanitarian of the Year
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Dr. Härtl is co-director of OCH Spine at NewYork-Presbyterian and director of Weill Cornell Medicine’s Center for Comprehensive Spine Care. He was recognized for his work as founder of the Global Neurosurgery Initiative at Bugando Medical Centre in Mwanza, Tanzania, and for his commitment to neurosurgical education worldwide.
He was presented with the award at the American Association of Neurological Surgeons’ annual meeting.
“I am humbled to have been recognized for the work we’ve done to bring life-saving medical services to those in need,” he said at the award ceremony.
“This award reflects not just my work, but also the tremendous support of both NewYork-Presbyterian and Weill Cornell Medicine and the dedication of our extraordinary colleagues in Tanzania, who are constantly striving to learn more about neurosurgery and improve healthcare in their communities.”
Dr. Härtl founded the neurosurgical mission in Tanzania in 2008 to help train doctors in the underserved region. It started with just a single trip and now it has transformed into a year-round program with an exchange of fellows and an annual hands-on neurotrauma course.
“When I first visited Tanzania as a medical student, I was profoundly affected by what I saw there. Children suffering from untreated hydrocephalus, teens and adults who lost decades of useful life as a result of uncorrected spinal deformity; and many patients who died waiting for surgery after traumatic injury. I believed there was more we could do to help.”
Health providers from Africa also come to NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center to train alongside Härtl. During the pandemic, he maintained the program through virtual meetings and even added a second virtual course on scoliosis.
He was also honored for the annual neurosurgery and spine-surgery-training program for Eastern European surgeons that he has led for 20 years through the Salzburg Weill Cornell Seminars in Salzburg Austria. His dedication to spine surgery education also extended to teaching spine surgery techniques in other countries as well including Pakistan and Iraq.
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This is a fascinating development. In my practice we've seen similar outcomes with the revised protocol. The key differentiator seems to be patient selection criteria. Has anyone else noticed the correlation with BMI thresholds?
Great point. I'd push back slightly on the conclusion, the sample size in the cited study is too small to draw population-level inferences. That said, the directional signal is compelling and worth a larger RCT.
We implemented a similar approach last year. Early results are promising but we're still gathering 12-month follow-up data. Happy to share our protocol if anyone is interested.
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