John K Houten MD FAANS

Summary

• I am board-certified neurosurgeon with fellowship training in spinal surgery. My professional interests include advancing image-guided and minimally invasive techniques to more safely and accurately treat patients with conditions needing spinal surgery. After completing medical school, a neurosurgical residency, and a spinal surgery fellowship at New York University Medical Center, I spent more than a decade as the Chief of the Division of Spinal Neurosurgery at Montefiore Medical Center/Albert Einstein College of Medicine and subsequently at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn where I oversaw a tremendous expansion of the volume and sophistication of spinal neurosurgery procedures. Some of my notable accomplishments in New York included performing the first artificial disc replacement and the first minimally invasive fusion procedure in the Bronx; and for performing several difficult spinal operations that drew regional and national media coverage.
  In 2003, I devised and organized an annual CME course on diagnosis and management of degenerative spine disease with the goal of educating primary care and rehabilitation medicine physicians about the latest developments and technology available in spine care. The meeting proved enduringly popular and typically attracts 200 participants, making it the largest meeting of its kind in the tri-state area.
  In 2023, Dr. Houten joined the faculty of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and was appointed the Director of Spinal Surgery at Mount Sinai South Nassau. In addition to seeing patients in the office and performing surgery, I am actively involved in a number of clinical research projects addressing a number of facets of spinal degenerative disease. I also serve as an ad hoc reviewer for a number of scientific journals including Neurosurgery and Clinical Neurology and Neurosurgery. I live in Brooklyn with my wife, Gila Weinstein, a plastic surgeon in private practice.