CSORN Steering Committee
Dr. Hamilton Hall, MD FRCSC
Executive Director of the Canadian Spine Society
University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Dr. Hamilton Hall is a Professor in the Department of Surgery at the University of Toronto and on the orthopaedic staff at the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto. In 1974, because of his interest in patient education and rehabilitation, Dr. Hall founded the Canadian Back Institute, now CBI Health Group, the largest rehabilitation provider in Canada. Dr. Hall is co-founder and Executive Director of the Canadian Spine Society.
Y. Raja Rampersaud, MD, FRCS(C)
Chair of the CSORN Steering Committee
J. Bernard Gosevitz Chair in Arthritis Research at UHN
Orthopaedic Spine Surgeon, Toronto Western Hospital, University Health Network
Director, Orthopaedic Osteoarthritis Research Program, Schroeder Arthritis Institute
Professor of Surgery, University of Toronto
Dr. Raja Rampersaud’s national and internationally recognized research focuses on comparative effectiveness as well as health services research aimed at improvements in the delivery of patient centered musculoskeletal and spine care. He is an advocate for interprofessional models of care for spine and musculoskeletal disorders. He has developed the Inter-professional Spine Assessment and Education Clinic (ISAEC) program which has been provincially implemented as the Rapid Access Clinics – Low Back Pain Pathway. He is the provincial clinical lead for the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care Low Back Pain Strategy and served as the co-chair for the Provincial Quality Based Pathway (QBP)-Spine as well as the Quality Standard for Acute Low Back Pain. He is the past president of the Canadian Spine Society and co-developed the Canadian Spine Outcomes and Research Network (CSORN). From a surgical perspective Dr. Rampersaud is a recognized leader and innovator in minimally invasive spinal surgery and his research in surgical safety.
Dr. Charles Fisher, MD FRCSC
Combined Neurosurgical and Orthopedic Spine Program, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of British Columbia, Blusson Spinal Cord Centre, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Dr. Fisher is Professor and Head of the Combined Neurosurgical & Orthopaedic Spine Program at Vancouver General Hospital and the University of British Columbia. His practice is confined to adult spine surgery with subspecialty clinical interests in trauma and oncology. He has a Masters Degree in Health Care and Epidemiology and is the former President of the Canadian Spine Society. In 2019 Dr Fisher was awarded the North American Spine Society’s Leon Wiltse Award, recognizing excellence in leadership and clinical research in spine care.
Dr. Fisher has special research interests in spine trauma, oncology and evidence-based medicine. For the past 8 years he has been Chairman of the AO Knowledge Forum Tumour an international group of spine oncology surgeon thought leaders committed to advancing the understanding of spine oncology management through education and multi-center research. He has now stepped down to become chair of the AO Spine International Research Commission. Dr. Fisher was the lead author of the SINS classification for metastatic spine disease, now broadly adopted by both spine surgical and oncology disciplines.
Dr. Fisher chairs the steering committee for the Canadian Spine Outcomes and Research Network (CSORN); a multicenter research network and registry he initiated in 2013. Dr Fisher contributes biannually to regular articles on Evidence Based Recommendations in Spine Surgery for the journal, Spine.
Dr. Fisher has authored over 300 peer-reviewed publications and has co-edited 4 textbooks. He has been the special guest editor for two focus issues in Spine Oncology for the journal Spine. He formally sat on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Neurosurgery Spine and is an Associate Editor for the journal Spine. He is a regular guest lecturer at spinal events around the world and in 2013 and 2016 was honoured as one of the top 28 spine surgeons in North America.
Dr. Fisher attended UCLA on a soccer scholarship and graduated with honours degree in Kinesiology. He attended Dalhousie University Medical School, and completed his residency at the University of British Columbia. Dr. Fisher did a Spine Fellowship at the University of Western Ontario, in London. He is married to Carolyn, his wife of 30 years, and has 4 children, Zacharie, Charlotte, Anabelle and Olivia.
Dr. Ken Thomas, MD FRCSC
University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Dr. Thomas received is MD degree from Queen’s University at Kingston. Following medical school his orthopaedic surgery residency training was completed at the University of Ottawa. Subspecialty combined orthopaedic and neurosurgical spine fellowships were completed in Calgary and Vancouver. While in Vancouver Dr Thomas completed a Master Degree in Epidemiology. He then joined the Spine Program at the University of Calgary and is Clinical Professor within the Departments of Surgery and Clinical Neurosciences.
Dr Thomas’ clinical practice is dedicated to spine care. He is committed to medical education as shown by his teaching of students/residents and many post-graduate spine fellows. He is a member of the Orthopedic Specialty Committee and the Orthopedic Examination Committee at the Royal College. Dr Thomas has acted as supervisor for Master and PhD students. He is actively involved in many clinical research areas including topics related to research methodology and design, comparison of different spine interventions and economic analyses of health care. He is a strong advocate for the Canadian Spine Research and Outcomes Network.
When not working Ken is likely in the outdoors with his family doing activities such as skiing, mountain biking or hiking.
Dr. Neil Manson, MD FRCSC
Canada East Spine Centre, Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada
Saint John Orthopaedics, Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada
Dalhousie Medicine, Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada
Dr. Neil Manson co-founded with Dr. Edward Abraham the Canada East Spine Centre, a multi-disciplinary establishment committed to advancing spine healthcare through diverse research approaches in Saint John, New Brunswick. The vision for this centre was to bring together a community of experts from the fields of orthopaedic surgery, neurosurgery, nursing, physiotherapy and research. These efforts are fundamental to Dr. Manson’s overarching research focus of enhancing knowledge of the overall health picture of the spine surgery patient to personalize the treatment provided.
A central initiative of the Canada East Spine Centre is involvement in the Canadian Spine Society’s Canadian Spine Outcomes and Research Network (CSORN). As a member of the Steering Committee for CSORN since its inception in 2013, Dr. Manson has provided continuous oversight to the creation and ongoing development of this database. The CSORN site in Saint John, NB for which Dr. Manson is the primary Principal Investigator has grown under his direction to become the third top participating location in the country, enrolling hundreds of patients into the database on an annual basis.
A major driving focus of Dr. Manson’s research is seeking to develop a greater awareness of the interwoven nature of my patient’s physical pain and disability with their psychological and social well-being. In conducting an investigation into the impact of preoperative psychosocial risk factors on postoperative quality of life following thoracolumbar spine surgery, a significant association was found between the presence of such risk factors and worse postoperative outcomes. In presenting these findings, Dr. Manson has advocated for the translation of this knowledge into a more in-depth analysis conducted on each patient’s preoperative psychosocial support to ensure that the chances of undergoing an operation beneficial for the patient are maximized.
Dr. Manson has authored over 30 publications, 85 scientific conference proceedings, 65 invited presentations, 6 research awards and 17 successful grant applications.
Dr. Nic Dea, MD, MSc, FRCSC
Dr. Dea is a Clinical Associate Professor of Neurosurgery at the University of British Columbia. He completed his MD program and his neurosurgical training in Sherbrooke, Quebec, and his spine surgery fellowship in Vancouver, BC. Dr. Dea completed his Masters in Health Economics, Policy and Management at the London School of Economics & Political Sciences in London, UK. He is the Vice-Chair of the Neurosurgery Examination Committee at the Royal College of Physicians & Surgeons of Canada, playing an active role in the examination of neurosurgical candidates. He is an associate member of the AO Knowledge Forum: Tumor, an international multi-disciplinary panel of experts pursuing innovative research into spine oncology and is the co-PI of an international study dedicated to the primary tumors of the spine. He also sits on the executive board of the Canadian Spine Society, is a Steering Committee member of the Canadian Spine Outcomes and Research Network and is the Principle investigator of the Canadian Prospective Cervical Spondylotic Myelopathy study.
Post fellowship, he returned to his roots in Sherbrooke, taking on the role of Neurosurgery Program Director at the Université de Sherbrooke. Under his proactive leadership, the Neurosurgery program developed an international reputation for excellence and he was granted an award for “outstanding professor” by the Université. He was also named as Vice President of the Quebec neurosurgical association.
Dr. Dea returned to Vancouver in 2017 as a valued and welcome addition to the Vancouver Spine Surgery Institute team. His clinical and research interest in spinal oncology, cervical myelopathy and health economics has gained the attention of the international community where he is an in-demand guest lecturer. He was nominated within the top 20 spine specialist under 40 in North America by the North American Spine Society in 2020. He is the recipient of multiple national and international awards for his work in oncology and degenerative conditions of the spine. He has authored more than 60 peer-reviewed publications and participated in many textbooks in the field of neurosurgery and spinal surgery.
As a fellowship trained spine surgeon, Dr. Dea’s practice is confined to adult spine surgery with special clinical interests in oncology, cervical myelopathy, intra-dural pathology and trauma.
Dr. Chris Bailey, MSc, MD, FRCSC
Dr. Christopher Bailey is an Associate Professor in the Department of Surgery, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry at the University of Western Ontario. He is a clinician scientist affiliated with the Lawson Health Research Institute. His clinical and research interests include degenerative spinal conditions and spinal trauma. He is head of the combined Orthopaedic and Neurosurgical Spine program at London Health Science Centre, director of the Spine research centre, and past Chair of the Orthopaedic Research committee at the University of Western Ontario. Dr. Bailey completed his Orthopaedic Residency at Western University and Spine fellowship at University of British Columbia.
Greg McIntosh, MS
Director of Research Operations
Canadian Spine Outcomes and Research Network (CSORN), Markdale, Ontario, Canada
Greg graduated from the University of Windsor with a degree in Kinesiology and went on to complete his Master’s in Epidemiology from the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Medicine in 1999. He started his healthcare career at the Canadian Back Institute in 1989 and since 2013 is the Director of Research Operations for the Canadian Spine Outcomes and Research Network.
Eden Richardson, BA
CSS CSORN Data Quality Coordinator
Canadian Spine Outcomes and Research Network (CSORN), Markdale, Ontario, Canada
Canada East Spine Centre, Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada
Horizon Health Network, Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada
Eden Richardson has worked for the last 6 years for the Canadian Spine Society nationally as the Data Quality Coordinator for CSORN because of her fantastic work with CSORN registry. Eden also works for the Canada East Spine Centre in Saint John, New Brunswick as a Research Manager. Canada East Spine Centre is the 3rd largest site for CSORN of the 20 participating sites in Canada which was founded by Dr. Edward Abraham and Dr. Neil Manson.
Eden has hosted national training sessions for research coordinators and surgeons on data quality for CSORN. Eden is also the primary national trainer for CSORN. She trains all new coordinators starting with CSORN at their local sites. She is also the main contact for any data inquiries that sites may have. She has also been instrumental for changing processes and procedures to improve the data quality of CSORN nationally.
Eden also runs CSORN and all the sub-studies for CSORN at Canada East Spine Centre which includes sub-studies on adult deformity, pediatrics, cervical spondylotic myelopathy, and degenerative spondylolisthesis. Eden also coordinates most of the clinical and non-clinical trials at Canada East Spine Centre.
Eden completed her Bachelor of Arts at the University of New Brunswick, Saint John campus with a double major in Political Science and English and graduated with First Division. She has also completed her Graduate Certificate in Human Resources Management at Seneca College of Applied Arts and Technology. Eden will also be starting her Masters in Business Administration-General Management in July 2021.