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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

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