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Neurosurgery of St. Louis
12855 N. Forty Drive, Suite 125
St. Louis, Missouri 63141
314.806.1770
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Former Herbert Lourie Professor of Neurosurgery
at Washington University in St Louis
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Neurosurgery of St. Louis
12855 N. Forty Drive, Suite 125
St. Louis, Missouri 63141
314.806.1770
Please click below for Dr. Wright's clinical webpage
Biography
Dr. Wright is a board-certified Neurosurgeon, fellowship trained in complex spinal Neurosurgery. After his undergraduate degree in Neurobiology at the University of California, Berkeley, he obtained his medical degree at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He completed his residency training in Neurological Surgery at Washington University/Barnes-Jewish Hospital/St. Louis Children's Hospital. He then completed a fellowship in complex spinal Neurosurgery at both UCLA and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
For the past two decades, he was a Professor of Neurosurgery at Washington University in St. Louis. He was director of the Spine Fellowship there, and held the prestigious Herbert Lourie Professor of Neurosurgery endowed professorship.
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In May 2020, Dr. Wright chose to leave academics and Washington University to focus on delivering high-quality clinical care of patients with cervical spinal disorders.
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Dr. Wright focuses his practice on disorders of the cervical spine, and has performed over 2,000 cervical spine surgeries.
His practice includes the treatment of craniocervical/craniovertebral junction disorders, atlantoaxial instability, cervical spondylosis, cervical disc herniations, cervical myelopathy, cervical radiculopathy, cervical spondylolithesis, cervical stenosis, cervical deformity, as well as tumors of the spinal cord and spine. He has the largest series of cervical artificial disc surgeries (cervical arthroplasty) at Washington University during his time there, and continues to perform arthroplasty and other leading edge techniques.
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Dr. Wright is the developer of the C2 laminar fixation technique, now popular worldwide for the treatment of atlantoaxial instability. He is also one of the leading experts on the use of synthetic bone in cervical spine procedures.
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He has several patents related to cervical spine devices and treatments.
Education & Training
1989-1993
MD, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
1993-1994
Internship in General Surgery
Washington University
Barnes-Jewish Hospital
St. Louis Children's Hospital
1994-2000
Residency in Neurological Surgery
Washington University
Barnes-Jewish Hospital
St. Louis Children's Hospital
2000-2001
Fellowship in Spinal Neurosurgery
UCLA/Cedars-Sinai
Key Publications
Hawasli, A., Cashin, J., and Wright, N.M. Modular cervical plate system for adjacent segment disease. J Neurosurgical Sci, Feb 23, 2018.
Wright, N.M. Posterior C2 fixation using bilateral, crossing C2 laminar screws: case series and technical note. Journal of Spinal Disorders and Techniques 17(2):158-162, 2004. [cited by more than 100 articles on PubMed]
Novel technical method of treating adjacent segment disease with a modular plate system.
Novel and safer technical method of placing instrumentation into the 2nd cervical vertebra (C2, "Axis"). This technique is now popular worldwide.
Awards
- 2007-2020
Best Doctor, Neurosurgery, St. Louis Magazine
Neurosurgeon
Cervical Spine Specialist
Neill M. Wright, MD
Practice Locations
Blessing Hospital
4800 Maine Street
Quincy, Illinois 62305
Tel: 217-214-9620 (as of 7/15/2020)
General number: 217-223-1200