Our Team

Dr. Craig Birch is an Instructor of Orthopedic Surgery at Harvard Medical School. He received his medical degree from Georgetown University School of Medicine and completed his pediatric orthopaedic fellowship at Boston Children’s Hospital. He has a particular interest is in reducing pain in spine deformity post-operative patients.

Ron El-Hawary is an Associate Professor of Orthopedic Surgery at Harvard Medical School. He previously worked at IWK Health in Halifax, Canada as Chief of Pediatric Orthopedic Surgery and Associate Chief of Surgery. He is currently on the Board of Directors of the Scoliosis Research Society and of the Pediatric Spine Foundation. He has been President of the Pediatric Spine Foundation, President of the Pediatric Spine Study Group, President of the Canadian Pediatric Orthopedic Group, and was the Founding President of the Canadian Pediatric Spine Society. He was previously the Chair of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada Orthopedic Examination Committee. He is co-editor of 3rd and 4th editions of The Growing Spine Textbook. Dr. El-Hawary's education included a Master of Science in Medical Biophysics from Western University in London, Canada and was an Edwards Fellow in Pediatric Orthopedics and Scoliosis Surgery at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital in Dallas. In 2006, he was chosen to be a Scoliosis Research Society Dawson Traveling Fellow and, in 2010, was selected to be a Pediatric Orthopedic Society of North America European Traveling Fellow.

Dr. Daniel Hedequist is Associate Professor of Orthopedic Surgery at Harvard Medical School. He has been in practice for more than 20 years and is now the Chief of Spine Division at Boston Children’s Hospital. He received his medical degree from Creighton University and completed his pediatric orthopaedic fellowship at Boston Children’s Hospital. Dr. Hedequist has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles. His research interests include patient quality and safety, pediatric cervical spine surgery, and the use of emerging technologies both in and out of the operating room. In 2021, Dr. Hedequist founded ASPIRE.

Dr. Grant Hogue is Assistant Professor of Orthopedic Surgery at Harvard Medical School. He received his medical degree from UT Health San Antonio Long School of Medicine and completed his pediatric orthopaedic fellowship at Boston Children’s Hospital. He has published over 30 peer-reviewed articles. His current research interests are in Health Equity in Pediatric Orthopaedic Care and the effects of marijuana exposure in pediatric patients.

Dr. Hresko has been practicing pediatric orthopedic surgery and spine deformity treatment for over twenty years. Spinal surgery for scoliosis and other deformity has made great stride during that period with advances in spinal instrumentation to improve the safety and effectiveness of surgery. Robotic assisted surgery has been the next step in progression of patient specific treatment to spinal deformity. His education and training have included Harvard College, London School of Economics, Columbia College of Physician and Surgeons, Tuft’s New England Medical Center, and Boston Children’s Hospital. Outside of the hospital, Dr. Hresko enjoy golf, tennis, biking and time with friends and family.

After his fellowship at Boston Children's Hospital, Dr. Devito focused his surgical career on caring for pediatric spine patients. Dr. Devito serves as the Medical Director of the Spine Program at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. He specializes in the treatment of scoliosis and other complex spinal disorders and deformities in children, adolescents and young adults. Dr. Devito is a leader in advanced surgical technology including the surgical use of robotics for scoliosis surgery in children and adolescents. He is also experienced with the VEPTR device used to treat complex chest wall deformities seen in congenital scoliosis and early onset scoliosis. He received the Health-Care Innovations Heroes award for his work in this area. Dr. Devito’s other orthopaedic interests include advanced limb reconstruction and trauma. He is board certified by the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, a member of the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America, a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics, and offers more than 30 years of pediatric orthopaedic surgical experience. Dr. Devito is a consulting associate for the Duke Department of Orthopaedic Surgery.

In his free time he enjoys outdoor activities like bicycling, skiing, and hiking while never hesitating to put together a gourmet meal, as I enjoy cooking; but my favorite activity is playing with my 10 grandchildren!

Joshua S. Murphy, MD, is a Pediatric Orthopedic Surgeon at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta with an interest in complex spinal deformities, including scoliosis, spondylolysis and spondylolisthesis, in addition to general and complex musculoskeletal care that includes trauma and lower extremity deformity. Dr. Murphy continues to actively participate in medical innovation and is one of only a few surgeons in Georgia who performs anterior vertebral body tethering—a minimally invasive approach to treating scoliosis in patients with growth remaining. He remains active on leadership committees with the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America (POSNA) and Scoliosis Research Society (SRS). Dr. Murphy is a consulting associate with the Duke University Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and an adjunct clinical professor with Emory University School of Medicine, where he actively participates in training orthopedic surgery residents and our pediatric orthopedic surgery fellows. In his free time, Dr. Murphy enjoys spending time with his family, as well as mountain biking, running, skiing, surfing and traveling.

Michael Ryan Ballard, PA-C, has 19 years of experience working at Children's Hospital Colorado with Dr.Mark Erickson. Growing up in Colorado, he received his undergraduate degree at the University of Colorado before heading east to the Duke University PA program from 2003-2005. Now back at Children's Hospital Colorado, he has scrubbed for over 500 robotic spine surgeries. He is the owner of BEIMS, LLC: a robotic surgery workflow and cord management system. When not at work he spends time with his two high school aged kids.

Dr. Mark Erickson is a Professor of Orthopedic Surgery at The University of Colorado School of Medicine. He serves as the Fellowship Director for the Pediatric Orthopedic Fellowship Program and as Medical Director of the Spine program at Children’s Hospital Colorado. Dr. Erickson completed his Orthopedic residency at Wright State University and his fellowship in Pediatric Orthopedic surgery at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children. His clinical, educational, and scholarly interests center around spine disorders, trauma, quality improvement, as well as team and programmatic development

Sumeet Garg, MD is an Associate Professor of Orthopedics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. He has been in practice since 2010 in pediatric orthopedics and spine surgery at Children’s Hospital Colorado. He is the Director of Quality and Safety for the Orthopedic Division at Children’s Colorado. He is active in multiple committees for the Pediatric Orthopedic Society of North America and Scoliosis Research Society. His research focuses on quality and safety in pediatric spine surgery and more recently patient reported outcomes in pediatric orthopedics. His clinical practice focuses on the treatment of spinal deformities in children. He utilizes a verity of enabling technologies in his spine practice including robotic navigation, patient specific implants, 3D printed patient specific drill guides, and advanced preoperative modeling for spinal deformity care.

A native of New Jersey, Dr. Kaufman and his wife, Shelby, were happy to leave winter behind and are now proud to call Austin their home. Dr. Kaufman's medical training began in Washington, D.C. where he enjoyed thirteen years in our nation's capital. While a resident, Dr. Kaufman focused on advanced spinal surgery techniques and the specialized care of pediatric patients at The Children's National Medical Center. After his residency training, Dr. Kaufman accepted a clinical fellowship at the Nemours/Alfred I. DuPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington, Delaware. During his fellowship, Dr. Kaufman received extensive training from world renowned surgeons in the management of scoliosis, complex spinal deformities, neuromuscular disorders, skeletal dysplasia, and hip dysplasia. Dr. Kaufman's clinical practice focuses on the management of scoliosis and spinal deformity with a particular interest in the use of enabling technologies such as navigation and robotics to improve patient safety in the operating room. Dr. Kaufman's clinical research focuses on maximizing patient recovery while limiting post-operative opioid use. Dr. Kaufman's research is supported by grant funding from the University of Texas at Austin and the Pediatric Orthopedic Society of North America. Outside of the hospital, Dr. Kaufman and his wife enjoy BBQ, camping, fishing, cheering on the Longhorns, and chasing after their two children, Charlie and Genevieve.

Dr. Kirsten Ross is a pediatric orthopedic surgeon at Central Texas Pediatric Orthopedics and Dell Children's Medical Center in Austin, Texas and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Surgery and Perioperative Care at Dell Medical School and the University of Texas at Austin. She completed her medical school at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia and her orthopedic surgery residency at Vanderbilt University where she found her passion for pediatric orthopedics and spine surgery. She then completed her training with a fellowship in pediatric orthopedic surgery at Boston Children's Hospital with an emphasis on pediatric spine surgery and spine robotics. She specializes in scoliosis and other pediatric spinal conditions as well as pediatric trauma and other general pediatric orthopedic conditions. Her research interests include spinal deformity, pediatric fracture care, and diversity within orthopedics.

Dr. Jessica H. Heyer, MD is an Assistant Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at the Hospital for Special Surgery and New York-Presbyterian Hospital. Dr. Heyer completed her fellowship in pediatric orthopaedic surgery at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. She specializes in pediatric spinal deformity, fracture care, and osteogenesis imperfecta. Her research interests include the clinical course and outcomes of scoliosis, spine surgery, and pediatric orthopaedic trauma. She has been involved in research involving outcomes following pediatric spine surgery utilizing robotic navigation since the completion of her fellowship training.

Dr. Roger F. Widmann is Professor of Orthopedic Surgery at Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) and Weill Cornell Medical Center, and he served as Chief of the Pediatric Orthopedic Surgery Service at HSS for 20 years from 2004 through 2023. Dr. Widmann specializes in the surgical treatment of pediatric spinal deformities with an emphasis on surgical safety, accuracy and precision through the integration of enabling technologies including robotically assisted spine surgery. HSS pioneered the early adoption of low-dose EOS imaging and we have access to more EOS platforms at HSS than any other hospital in the world. Dr. Widmann contributed to the development of the Pediatric Spinal Deformity Workflow for Robotic Spine Surgery utilizing the MAZOR X Stealth Robot (Medtronic), and he has published and presented widely on the learning curve, safety profile and accuracy/precision of robotically assisted spine surgery. Dr. Widmann is also the Co-Principal Investigator of a team of engineers and clinicians who have developed and validated the use of full-body 3D topographic optical scanning for scoliosis that is capable of automated analysis of spinal deformity without the use of ionizing radiation. This system was developed at HSS as part of a collaborative international research effort with the Technion in Israel as well as collaborators at Boston Children’s Hospital. This system utilizes rapid whole body 3D scanning and machine learning to generate a suite of 2D and 3D topographic measurements. Dr. Widmann is proud to hold the Leon Root Chair in Pediatric Spine Surgery at HSS.

Robert F. Murphy, M.D. is a pediatric orthopaedic surgeon at MUSC specializing in the care of musculoskeletal conditions in children and adolescents. He is an Associate Professor in the Department of Orthopaedics and Physical Medicine, and serves at the Chief of Pediatric Orthopaedics at MUSC Children’s Health. Dr. Murphy’s expertise is in pediatric and adolescent spinal conditions and deformity, pediatric hip dysplasia and hip conditions, as well as lower extremity and foot deformities in children.

He graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 2005. His medical degree was obtained from Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, GA in 2009. Following medical school, Dr. Murphy completed his residency at the University of Tennessee – Campbell Clinic in Memphis, TN. He received a further year of subspecialty training exclusively in pediatric orthopaedics at Boston Children’s Hospital, affiliated with Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Murphy is active in clinical research as well as medical education. He is an active member of the Pediatric Spine Study Group and the Scoliosis Research Society, as well as the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons and the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America. His research focuses on the utilization of enabling technology to improve outcomes in spine deformity surgery, as well as the long term clinical, radiographic and patient reported outcomes of patients with early onset scoliosis.

Michael P. Glotzbecker, MD, is chief of the Division of Pediatric Orthopedic Surgery and Associate Surgeon in Chief at University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital and Clinical Professor, Orthopaedics, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. He holds the George H. Thompson Chair in Pediatric Orthopaedic Surgery. His clinical and research interests include spinal deformity, early onset scoliosis, complication prevention in spinal deformity surgery, enabling technology an robotics in pediatric spine surgery, and pediatric fracture care. He serves as current treasurer elect of the Pediatric Spine Study Group. And is also an active member of the Harms Study Group. He is also currently pursuing his MBA through Weatherhead School of Management.

Dustin A. Greenhill, MD, FAOA, FAAOS is a pediatric orthopaedic surgeon at St. Luke’s University Health Network and Associate Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at Temple University School of Medicine. He is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and completed a fellowship in pediatric orthopaedic surgery and scoliosis at Scottish Rite Hospital for Children in Dallas, Texas. He has published over 40 peer-reviewed articles. He develops pediatric orthopaedic educational content for the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. His current research interests include scoliosis, orthopaedic trauma, and the optimization of patient care through orthopaedic subspecialization.

Dr. Stephanie Ihnow graduated with a bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania. She went on to earn her Master’s in Education from Saint John’s University and was a high school teacher, before beginning her medical training at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York. After completing a residency with the department of orthopaedic surgery at Northwestern University, she pursued fellowship training in pediatric orthopaedic surgery at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. Dr. Ihnow is board-certified in orthopaedic surgery by the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery.

Dr. Nigel Price is board-certified in orthopaedic surgery by the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery. He received his medical degree from Queen’s University (Kingston, Ontario, Canada) in 1986. Subsequently, he furthered his training by completing an orthopaedic residency training at Queen’s from 1986-1990. Dr. Price completed 3 fellowships including an orthopaedic fellowship at Queen’s University, a pediatric orthopaedics fellowship at Adelaid Women and Children’s Hospital in North Adelaide, Australia, and a pediatric orthopaedics fellowship at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada.