Dr. Osama Kashlan is an award-winning, board-certified neurosurgeon who is fellowship trained in spine surgery. His specialty is minimally invasive spine surgery, including innovative new endoscopic and robotic approaches to the spine. Dr. Kashlan’s practice covers a wide range of spinal disorders, including degenerative spinal disorders, spinal trauma, scoliosis, spinal deformity, and spine tumors. He takes pride in ensuring all motion-sparing options — including disc replacement, facet replacement, and decompressive non-fusion endoscopic procedures — are exhausted prior to offering his patients fusion operations. He also has a special interest in tumors, infections, and congenital defects of the lumbosacral junction, with a vast experience in treating adult tethered cords and sacral pathologies requiring a sacrectomy or coccygectomy with or without lumbopelvic reconstruction. Before joining the faculty at Weill Cornell Medicine, Dr. Kashlan served as Director of Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery at the University of Michigan, where he was also in charge of the spine fellowship.
Dr. Kashlan speaks English and Arabic
Outside of the hospital, Dr. Kashlan is an officer in the Air National Guard and has been involved in projects to improve treatment of head injuries on the battlefield in addition to spreading awareness regarding spinal cord injuries in special warfare operators. He also has a special interest in global neurosurgery and has led multiple neurosurgery mission trips around the world.
TRAINING
Dr. Kashlan earned his bachelor’s degree in chemical and biomolecular engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, then earned his medical degree at Emory University School of Medicine. At Emory, he was elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society. He completed his residency in neurosurgery at the University of Michigan, simultaneously earning a Master of Public Health degree in epidemiology. As a resident at the University of Michigan, Dr. Kashlan earned multiple awards for clinical ability, academic excellence, leadership, and teaching skills. After residency, Dr. Kashlan returned to Atlanta for a complex spine fellowship at Emory University. During the fellowship, with his interest in endoscopic spine surgery piqued, he decided to pursue further endoscopic spine training in South Korea and subsequently at the University of Washington in Seattle under world-renowned experts in this field.
RESEARCH AND PUBLICATIONS
Dr. Kashlan has published dozens of peer-reviewed academic journal articles, written many book chapters, and presented his work at national and international meetings. At the University of Michigan, he was NIH-funded to study the effect of stem cells in neurodegenerative conditions. His current research could be split into two categories: clinical outcomes research and surgical innovation. Using his background in epidemiology, Dr. Kashlan led multiple large statewide projects in Michigan with the goal of improving the care of spine patients. He is part of the Endoscopic Spine Research Group, a nationwide team of expert endoscopic spine surgeons who aim to continue to innovate endoscopic techniques to make spine surgery as least invasive as possible for patients. Lastly, he served as a site principal investigator for multiple clinical trials testing novel surgical advances in sacroiliac fixation, facet replacement devices, and fusion operations.
