The Spine Outcomes Research Center is a multidisciplinary group committed to improving patient outcomes and applying high-quality and purposeful research to professional practice. The organization values collegial interaction and strong scientific principles. We are dedicated to improving patient safety and outcomes through furthering knowledge and increasing the efficiency of spine care. We aspire to become the recognized authority on issues of patient outcomes and safety and on health care system performance in spine.

Learn more about the Surgical Outcome Research Center.

Contact

Surgical Outcomes Research Center
Levi Watkins, Jr, MD, Outpatient Center
601 N. Caroline Street Suite 5244
Baltimore, MD 21287
Phone: (443)-287-2880

For media inquiries, please contact our Office of Media Relations and Public Affairs at [email protected].

Patient-Reported Outcomes

Spine problems can have a big impact on your life. We are interested in knowing about the effects of your symptoms on your physical and emotional health. This site allows you to answer a series of questions online. If you provide an e-mail address, we will send you a reminder to complete similar questions in the future.

• New patients or first-time submitting: please complete the assessment here.
• Returning patients: You will receive an email with a link for the assessment at set times after your surgery. If you have not, contact [email protected] or call 443-287-2880.

Medical Tutorial for Johns Hopkins University Students

The Spine Outcomes Research Center offers a popular medical tutorial to undergraduate and post-baccalaureate students at the Johns Hopkins University. In this tutorial, we strive to give students an exposure to academic medicine as it pertains to spine surgery. Specifically, this means that we alternate our tutorial every week with students observing a surgeon in the clinic (week A) and assisting a researcher in the office (week B). This enables our students to gain knowledge from both sides, from clinical applications to research processes.

• During the observation of the surgeon, the student is exposed to the discussion between the surgeon and the medical staff — resident, nurse practitioner, etc. — during review of each patient's condition and to the interaction between surgeon and patient during the physical examination.
• During the assistance with the researcher, the student will learn the various steps of clinical research. This will include literature reviews, data entry and potential interaction with study participants.

Publications

•  Changes in racial and ethnic disparities in lumbar spinal surgery associated with the passage of the Affordable Care Act, 2006-2014
• Cost-Utility Analysis of rhBMP-2 Use in Adult Spinal Deformity Surgery
• Preoperative patient expectations and pain improvement after adult spinal deformity surgery
• Opioid use after adult spinal deformity surgery: patterns of cessation and associations with preoperative use
• The OPTIMIZE study: protocol of a pragmatic sequential multiple assessment randomized trial of nonpharmacologic treatment for chronic, nonspecific low back pain
• Health Care Resource Utilization in Commercially Insured Patients Undergoing Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion for Degenerative Cervical Pathology
• Physical Performance Tests Provide Distinct Information in both Predicting and Assessing Clinical Outcomes Following Lumbar Spine Surgery
• Development of a Preoperative Adult Spinal Deformity Comorbidity Score That Correlates With Common Quality and Value Metrics: Length of Stay, Major Complications, and Patient-Reported Outcomes