MACHINE READABLE FILE - Key Persons
Dr. Akash Patel was born and raised in Middlesboro, Kentucky. After graduating as a valedictorian at Middlesboro High School, he attended Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia and graduated with a degree in biology. Dr. Patel went on to obtain his medical degree at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine - Georgia Campus in Suwanee, Georgia. He then migrated to Chapel Hill, North Carolina for his residency training in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of North Carolina (UNC), where he served as chief resident in his final year and received the "Resident of the Year" and "Team Player of the Year" awards. He then went on to complete a fellowship in Sports Medicine at UNC.
Regardless of your ability level, Dr. Patel considers everyone an athlete. Whether you are training for a marathon or you simply enjoy walking your dog, he wants to help you reach your goals and keep you as physically active as possible. His professional interests include the non-operative management of musculoskeletal conditions utilizing traditional therapies as well as ultrasound guided injections. He specializes in the non-operative treatment of low back pain, neck pain, shoulder pain, hip pain, and knee pain. Dr. Patel utilizes a team-based approach to patient care and will work with you to generate a treatment plan that will put you in the best position to succeed.
In his free time Dr. Patel enjoys playing basketball, tennis, table tennis, and spending time with his family. He and his wife Puja currently live in Chapel Hill, but will be moving to Pittsboro soon. They both enjoy running, traveling, cooking/baking, and attending a variety of sporting events.
Dr. Torrealba specializes in the treatment of all types of simple and complex spinal disorders,ranging from simple backaches to spondylolisthesis, herniated and bulging discs, spinal stenosis, fractures and degenerative disorders of the spine. He has extensive training in minimally invasive surgery.
He earned his medical degree magna cum laude from the University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine, where he was honored for outstanding academic achievements. He went on to complete his residency in orthopaedics at the University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine and was chosen as Resident of the Year in 2012.
Dr. Torrealba completed a fellowship in spine surgery and treatment at Twin Cities Spine Center in Minneapolis, MN, where he studied the latest minimally invasive spine surgery techniques. One of the largest spine centers in the world, Twin Cities Spine Center was founded by John H. Moe, MD, a pioneer in spine and scoliosis research and treatment who helped develop one of the world's first dedicated inpatient hospital spine units and whose work resulted in the development of the first comprehensive textbook on spinal deformities.
Dr. Torrealba joined Spine & Scoliosis Specialists in November 2013. A skilled surgeon who enjoys caring for patients, Dr. Torrealba speaks both English and Spanish fluently. Because he is bilingual, Dr. Torrealba works closely with our Spanish-speaking patients to ensure that they fully understand their spinal conditions and their treatment options. Patients are able to ask questions and receive responses directly from their physician, without going through an interpreter. In addition to treating patients, Dr. Torrealba enjoys performing research and presenting educational programs for healthcare workers and patients. In March 2013, he presented an abstract on "Recurrent Deep Spine Wound Infections after Treatment with VAC System: Patient and Treatment Risk Factors" at the AOSpine North America meeting at Banff Springs, Alberta, Canada.
Dr. Ruben Torrealba is a back pain specialist here at Spine & Scoliosis Specialists in Greensboro, NC. He will be giving a talk on back pain treatment options at the Millis Regional Health Education Center. The details for the presentation are as follows:
In 2013, Ruben Torrealba, MD, joined our practice. Dr. Torrealba is a board-eligible orthopaedic spine surgeon who completed a fellowship in the latest minimally invasive spine surgery techniques at Twin Cities Spine Center in Minneapolis, MN, one of the largest spine centers in the world. Fluent in both Spanish and English, Dr. Torrealba enjoys working closely with our patients to ensure that they understand their spinal injuries and conditions.
Dr. Cohen is an innovator and a leader in spine care, known for his skill in the operating room and his compassion for patients. He specializes in complex spinal disorders, including minimally invasive spine surgery, revision back surgery and scoliosis in children and adults.
He is an honors graduate of the Medical College of Virginia, where he won numerous awards for outstanding academic achievement. He served his residency at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, where he was chief resident. Dr. Cohen went on to complete a spine and scoliosis fellowship at Cornell University's prestigious Hospital for Special Surgery, ranked as the top orthopaedics hospital in the nation by U.S. News & World Report.
Dr. Cohen has practiced in Greensboro since 2002 and is board-certified in orthopaedic surgery. He founded Spine & Scoliosis Specialists in 2007 and serves as President.
Over his years in practice, Dr. Cohen has treated tens of thousands of patients and performed over 4,000 spinal surgeries. His patients benefit from his continual quest to develop new products and techniques that will improve results in spinal surgery. In 2009, Dr. Cohen pioneered the use of the universal clamp (developed by French surgeons Brice Ilharreborde and Keyvan Mazda) in spinal fusion surgery for scoliosis in the U.S. He helped Abbott Spine (now Zimmer Spine) develop the clamp for the U.S. market, trained on its use with Mazda in Paris, taught the complex instrumentation to physicians in the U.S., and then performed the first universal clamp procedure in the U.S.
Dr. Cohen, who has placed over 10,000 spinal implants, now serves as a consultant to Medtronic, the world's largest spinal implant manufacturer. Dr. Cohen currently is:
Helping Medtronic develop instrumentation to improve spinal implant patients' outcomes and recovery time, and also training other surgeons in these newly developed techniques.
Assisting Medtronic in the development of new techniques for minimally invasive sacroiliac (SI) joint fusion using O-Arm technology.
Working to help develop the new WAVE® expandable interbody fusion cage, designed to improve outcomes for patients undergoing spinal fusion surgery.
Conducting training courses for surgeons from across the U.S. and around the world as part of Medtronic's Visiting Surgeon Program. Surgeons journey to Spine & Scoliosis Specialists' Triad offices to spend a day in the operating room with Dr. Cohen and Dr. Torrealba, learning advanced surgical techniques.
Dr. Cohen previously served as a consultant for several other manufacturers of advanced spine technology, including Biomet Spine, STIM (for which he was medical director), Zimmer Spine, Spinal Concepts and Interpore Cross Spine.
He has trained in numerous advanced spinal techniques as well, including:
Minimally invasive spine surgery
Microdiscectomy
Microlaminotomy/foraminotomy
Minimally invasive fusion
Scoliosis surgery
Spinal fusion and instrumentation
Complex deformity surgery
Pedicle subtraction osteotomy (PSO)
Image-guided surgery (O-Arm)
Cervical and lumbar artificial disc replacement
X-stop procedure
Kyphoplasty
Spinal cord stimulation
Dr. Cohen enjoys educating patients about the spine, and he also presents educational programs on the spine to nurses, case managers and other health care workers.