Who We Are
Amanda Sacino, MD-PhD
Residency: Johns Hopkins Hospital, Neurosurgery
Fellowship:Enfolded Fellowship in Robotic and Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital and Sibley Memorial Hospital;
Complex and Minimally Invasive Spine Fellowship, Swedish Neuroscience Institute
Medical School: MD, PhD in Neuroscience, University of Florida College of Medicine
Undergraduate: B.A. Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Neurochemistry, Boston University
Background: I was born at Holy Cross Hospital in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and raised in Lighthouse Point, Florida. God blessed me with a wonderful Greek/Italian family and childhood. While studying at Boston University, I completed my honors research thesis related to movement disorders in the Department of Neurosurgery at Massachusetts General Hospital. At the University of Florida, my PhD work focused on proteinopathies, mainly Parkinsonism. During the course of my neurosurgical training at Johns Hopkins Hospital, I received thorough experience in cranial, spine, and peripheral nerve surgery. I also was fortunate enough to complete two dedicated spine fellowships at Johns Hopkins Hospital/Sibley Memorial Hospital and Swedish Neuroscience Institute. My spine training has been extensive covering degenerative diseases, congenital diseases, deformity, oncology, and trauma. I specialize in providing minimally invasive approaches to the spine to help my patients find relief and get back to their lives sooner. While at Johns Hopkins, I’ve also been fortunate enough to be trained at the forefront of all current intra-operative navigation technologies including augmented reality and robotics. In particular, I trained under the inventor of the Globus ExcelsiusGPS robot, Dr. Nicholas Theodore, Director of Neurosurgical Spine Program at Johns Hopkins Hospital. I was at the first robotic case at Johns Hopkins Hospital with him when I was a second year resident and for the past five years, I have been working with the robot doing both spine and cranial cases as well as contributing to its advancement through publication and lectures. My goal is to use this extensive neurosurgical expertise in minimally invasive and robotic surgery from Johns Hopkins to help my patients.
Surgical Philosophy: “Less is more.” If there is a patient with a tumor or an unstable fracture or a neurologic deficit (ie weakness, incontinence) with an identifiable anatomic cause then that may require an upfront surgical solution; however, dealing with pain is a little more nuanced. I favor trying conservative measures first and if the patient isn’t getting significant improvement then we move onto a surgical option. With surgery, I try to pinpoint the cause of the patient’s pain and use minimally invasive techniques to minimize the disruption to the surrounding tissues. Ideally, I want my patients up and walking the day of surgery. Hippocrates once said, “Walking is man’s best medicine,” and I couldn’t agree more. The whole point of the surgery is to help you find relief so that we can get you back to your life sooner.
What do I value? I value quality. Quality of the care I provide for my patients, quality for the type of surgery I provide for my patients, and the quality of life I can help my patients to regain. One of the things I learned during my time at Johns Hopkins is that quality comes from a deep commitment in my work to help take care of another human being. Everything we do matters, which is why I record and am transparent about my outcomes to help ensure that I provide the highest quality of care.
See Conditions We Treat to see links to Dr. Sacino's lectures and research.
Gregory Cannarsa, MD
Residency: University of Maryland Medical Center and R. Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center, Neurosurgery
Fellowship: Enfolded Fellowship in Endovascular Neurosurgery, UMMC/Shock Trauma; CerebroVascular and Endovascular Neurosurgery, Swedish Neuroscience Institute
Medical School: MD, Jefferson Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University
Undergraduate: B.S. Biology, B.B.A, Finance, Saint Joseph's University
Background: I was born and raised in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania. My extended family including grandparents, aunt, and uncle have lived in Naples since I was young. We visited at least yearly for vacations and holidays, enjoying the weather and relaxed atmosphere. While completing my neurosurgical residency at the University of Maryland Medical Center/Shock Trauma Center, I trained in all types of Neurosurgery both cranial and spinal. My focus is on cranial applications of Neurosurgery including stroke, brain tumors, hydrocephalus, brain bleeds, trauma, aneurysms, and other cerebrovascular malformations. During my time at Shock Trauma, we dealt with a wide range of life and death situations on a daily basis including severe brain bleeds and spinal cord injuries; that type of training taught me quickly about what is important and how to make critical, efficient decisions in providing patient care. I had great mentors there, including Dr. Marc Simard, who is one of the world’s experts in cerebrovascular neurosurgery. I have completed two additional fellowships including an enfolded endovascular fellowship at the University of Maryland/Shock Trauma, and a cerebrovascular and endovascular fellowship at Swedish Neuroscience Institute. At Swedish, I worked with Dr. Cameron McDougall, who was among the first to do endovascular neurosurgery in the US, and has been on the leading trials for endovascular neurosurgery. The complexity and volume of cases I performed increased further, and again the main emphasis is always to try to determine what is the best approach for each patient in treating these complex problems. The goal is to ensure patients’ quickest recovery and the longest lasting treatment whenever possible. I'm also a strong advocate of "no hair shave" Neurosurgery such that the patient keeps all of their hair, and "invisible closure" which involves closing all incisions without the use of staples or sutures that need to be removed.
Surgical philosophy: “Try to be as minimally disruptive as possible to the patient.” That includes not only the surgery itself, but everything from before the surgery to the recovery after the surgery. Any type of neurosurgical condition is going to be very challenging, and a difficult time for our patients and for their families. Minimally disruptive is a philosophy meaning we try to make the whole process as easy and as painless as possible. For example, in some cases with just a small needle stick into the artery, we can treat an aneurysm. However, in other cases, a larger surgery is needed, and my goal is to always ensure the surgery is as least disruptive and as minimally invasive as possible to ensure the quickest recovery for the patient. Another way in which the minimally disruptive philosophy can bring joy to the patient as well as the care team is after the surgery there can be times when we do a good enough job concealing the incision with a “hair sparing” technique that the nursing staff isn’t aware the patient has had surgery. So for the patient and for the care team, it really is a source of joy that what was once thought to be a potentially disfiguring surgery or a painful surgery is really not that in the end. When a patient looks the same as when they went into surgery they often get the same treatment as they did before surgery and their mindset and attitude benefit tremendously. It’s what I would want for my family and that’s why I do it.
What do I value? I value the patient interaction. Nothing brings me more joy than to guide a patient through surgery-before, during, and after-and get them through to the other side in great condition and having them make a great recovery. To see a patient doing well after surgery and even something as simple as the patient saying, “it wasn’t as bad as I thought and I have much less pain than I thought," is what brings me joy. For me, if there was no patient then we wouldn’t have a purpose, so every interaction I have with the patient is what brings meaning to what we do. So in everything we do, that’s what we think of first.
See Conditions We Treat to see links to Dr. Cannarsa's lectures and research.
