The International Society for the Advancement of Spine Surgery (ISASS) named Belgian surgeon Marek Szpalski (Iris South Hospitals/Molière Longchamp, Brussels, Belgium) society president for the year 2018—2019 at their annual conference last week (10–13 April, Toronto, Canada).
Szpalski is taking over the role from Jeffrey A Goldstein (NYU Langone Medical Center Hospital for Joint Diseases, New York, USA).
Szpalski began his medical education at the Free University of Brussels, where he is currently serving as an associate professor. He is also chairman of the department of orthopaedic trauma surgery at the Brussels-based IRIS South Teaching Hospitals. Szpalski is an adjunct associate professor of orthopaedics at New York City-based New York University.
In addition to his clinical practice, Szpalski is deputy editor-in-chief of European Spine Journal and is on the editorial board of four other scientific journals. Szpalski works as a foreign correspondent for Coluna Vertebral. Publications listing Szpalski as an author or co-author number over 150—including 26 books and a further 19 book chapters.
Additionally, Szpalski is a member of several scientific societies, and served as second vice president, then first vice president, then president of the International Society for the Study of the Lumbar Spine in consecutive years from 2002–2005.
The 2018–2019 board of directors also includes Jack Zigler (Texas Back Institute, Plano, USA) as treasurer, as well as Frank Phillips (Midwest Orthopaedics at Rush, Chicago, USA), Domagoj Coric (Section of Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery, Midwest Orthopaedics at Rush, Chicago, USA), and Massimo Balsano (Regional Spinal Department, Santorso Hospital, Venice, Italy).
Szpalski has previously been profiled by Spinal News International.
