Matthew E. Cunningham, MD, PhD

Dr. Matthew E. Cunningham has clinical interest in all types of thoracic and lumbar spine care, including spinal deformity (scoliosis, flatback, kyphosis, and spondylolisthesis) for adult and pediatric patients. In consideration of each and every patient, he focuses on the discovery and refinement of less-invasive, less-painful, and less-disruptive ways to correct spinal deformities and conditions. This includes surgical solutions for acute spine problems (herniated disks, pinched nerves, radiculopathy) and chronic/degenerative problems (stenosis, spine arthritis, revision spinal surgery).

With young scoliosis patients, Dr. Cunningham is sensitive to the need to maintain a normal child’s life as much as possible and works to minimize treatment and avoid surgery wherever other therapies promise success. With adult patients, he practices a new approach to fusion surgery (Posterior Lumbar Interbody Fusion) that results in a smaller incision, less pain, less abdominal disturbance, and cuts recovery time in half. In the lab, Dr. Cunningham is working on a spinal fusion technique that would eliminate surgery altogether, using an innovative injection instead. He has special interest in patients with repeated or intractable spine problems, including “failed back syndrome,” performing revision and corrective surgeries.

Currently, he is a volunteer surgeon for the Foundation for Orthopaedics and Complex Spine, a role which has taken him to countries such as Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Barbados to provide surgical and non-surgical care to underserved peoples.

Dr. Cunningham’s background is studded with academic honors and sports. He studied Biophysics at Johns Hopkins University and was recognized with several academic honors including induction into Phi Beta Kappa and being a Rhodes Scholar regional finalist. Throughout his years at Johns Hopkins, he competed in both varsity wrestling and football and was active on the University’s club rugby team. When not in the classroom or on the athletic field, he worked as a lifeguard captain.

After graduating from Johns Hopkins, Dr. Cunningham attended Columbia University for both graduate and medical school. While there, he was a student with the National Institute of Health-funded Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) and was recognized with many research honors including induction into Alpha Omega Alpha and receiving the Alfred E. Steiner Research Award, the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Research, and the Miriam Berkman Spotnitz Award. Dr. Cunningham was also recognized for his clinical excellence, winning the Virginia P. Apgar and New York Orthopaedic Hospital Awards.

Throughout his medical studies, Dr. Cunningham remained active in sports; he competed in lifeguard relays with the Borough of Bradley Beach, remained highly involved with Columbia’s "P&S" Rugby Club, and completed two New York City marathons.

Appointments

Assistant Attending Orthopaedic Surgeon, Hospital for Special Surgery
Instructor on the Clinical Scientist Track, Research Division, Hospital for Special Surgery
Assistant Attending Orthopaedic Surgeon, New York-Presbyterian Hospital
Instructor in Orthopaedic Surgery, Weill Cornell Medical College

Specialty

Orthopedic Surgery

Subspecialty

Spine
Scoliosis

Special Expertise

Adult and pediatric scoliosis, kyphosis, and spinal deformity
Complex multiplanar spinal deformity: anterior and/or posterior approaches, osteotomies,  primary and revision surgeries
Lumbar spine degenerative disease and arthritis
Spondylolisthesis, lumbar spine stenosis and instability
Surgical solutions for radicular pain and weakness due to spinal pathology

Awards

North American Spine Society Young Investigator Research Grant Award
Philip D. Wilson Award for Excellence in Orthopaedic Surgery Research, Hospital for Special Surgery
Orthopaedic Fellowship Award, New York Chapter of the Arthritis Foundation
Emerging Leader Program, American Orthopaedic Association
Clinician Scientist Development Program, AAOS/OREF/ORS
New York Orthopedic Hospital Award for Outstanding Research & Clinical Performance, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University

Affiliations

Volunteer Surgeon, Foundation for Orthopaedics and Complex Spine
Member, North American Spine Society
Candidate Member, American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons
Candidate Fellow, Scoliosis Research Society
Active Member, Orthopaedic Research Society
American Medical Association
Complex Spine Study Group, Adolescent Subgroup
International Spine Study Group

Procedures

Adult and pediatric anterior and/or posterior spinal fusions for surgical treatment of scoliosis, kyphosis, and spinal deformity
Thoracoplasty, osteotomy, vertebrectomy, posterior vertebral column resection for complex spinal deformity reconstruction
Anterior and/or posterior surgery for stenosis, herniated disks, degenerative disease, and arthritis, including decompression and/or fusion
Posterior lumbar microdiskectomy for herniated disks; posterior lumbar decompression for stenosis; anterior lumbar interbody fusion (ALIF), posterior or transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (PLIF/TLIF), and posterolateral instrumented lumbar fusions for instability and end-stage arthritis of the spine

Specialized Centers

• Spine Care Institute
  

Education

MD, PhD, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, 2000

Internship

New York Hospital, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, 2000-2001

Residency

Hospital for Special Surgery, New York, 2001-2005

Fellowship

Hospital for Special Surgery, New York, 2005-2007

Certification

Board Certified, American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery

State Licensure

New York  

Matthew E. Cunningham, MD, PhD has contributed to the following articles on HSS.edu:

Editorial Appointments

Reviewer, Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research
Reviewer, Hospital for Special Surgery Journal

Selected Publications

Cunningham, M.E., Stephens, R.M., Kaplan, D.R., and Greene, L.A. (1997) Autophosphorylation of Activation Loop Tyrosines Regulates Signaling by the TRK Nerve Growth Factor Receptor J. Biol. Chem. 272 (16), pp. 10957-10967.

Cunningham, M.E. and Greene, L.A. (1998) A Function-Structure Model for NGF-Activated TRK EMBO J. 17 (24), pp. 7282-7293.

Cunningham, M.E., Frelinghuysen, P.H.B., Roh, J.S., Boachie-Adjei, O., and Green, D.W. (2005) Fusionless Scoliosis Surgery Curr. Opin. Pediatr. 17(1), pp. 48-53.

Cunningham, M.E., Charles, G., and Boachie-Adjei, O. (2007) Posterior Vertebral Column Resection for VATER/VACTERL Associated Spinal Deformity: A Case Report. HSS J., 3(1), pp. 71-76.

Boachie-Adjei, O., Charles, G., and Cunningham, M.E. (2007) Partially Overlapping Limited Anterior and Posterior Instrumentation for Adult Thoracolumbar and Lumbar Scoliosis: A Description of Novel Spinal Instrumentation, “The Hybrid Technique.” HSS J., 3(1), pp. 93-98.

Gulotta, L.V., Hidaka, C., Maher, S. A., Cunningham, M. E., and Rodeo, S. A. (2007) Specialty Update: What’s New in Orthopaedic Research. J. Bone and Joint Surg. 89(9), pp. 2092-2101.

O’Loughlin, P.F., Bukata, S.V., Tomin, E., Poynton, A.R., Cunningham, M.E., Doty, S.B., and Lane, J.M. (2009) Parathyroid Hormone (1-34) Augments Spinal Fusion, Fusion Mass Volume and Fusion Mass Quality in a Rabbit Spinal Fusion Model. Spine, 34(2), pp121-30.

Tomin, E.A., Cunningham, M.E., Vergun, A., Hebebrand, D., Doty, S., Jones, N., Weiland, A., and Lane, J.M. (2007) Molded Vascularized Neo-Ossicle Formation in Silicone Chambers: Novel Technique Description and Histological Assessment. Clin. Ortho. Related Research, 465, pp.249-56.

Cunningham, M.E., Cottrell, J., Bilgic, S., Lawhorne, T., Rawlins, B., Boachie-Adjei, O., van der Meulen, M., and Hidaka, C. (in preparation) In Vivo and In Vitro Analysis of Rat Lumbar Spine Mobility.

Cunningham, M.E., Cottrell, J., Bilgic, S., Lawhorne, T., Rawlins, B., Crystal, R., Boachie-Adjei, O., van der Meulen, M., and Hidaka, C. (in preparation) Gene-Mediated Anterior Spine Fusion in the Rat: Proof of Concept for Human Percutaneous Intervertebral Body Spine Fusion.

For more publications, please see the PubMed listing.

Selected Books/Chapters

Cunningham, M.E., Kitajewski, J., and Greene, L.A. (2001) “Efficient Stable Transfection of Pheochromocytoma (PC12) Cells Using a Recombinant Retrovirus (LNC).” In Rush, R.A., Walker J.M. (eds.), Neurotrophin and Receptor Methods and Protocols: Methods in Molecular Biology. Humana Press, Clifton, NJ, pp. 135-147.

Teng, K.K., Angelastro, J.M., Cunningham, M.E., Greene, L.A. (2006) “Cultured PC12 Cells: A Model for Neuronal Function, Differentiation and Survival.” In Colin, J.E. (ed.), Cell Biology: A Laboratory Handbook, 3rd edn. Academic Press, Orlando, FL, pp. 171-176.

Cunningham, M.E., Bomback, D., and Boachie-Adjei, O.(2009) “Revision Deformity Surgery.” In Errico, T.J., Lonner, B.S., and Moulten, A.W. (eds.), Surgical Management of Spinal Deformities. Saunders Elsevier Inc., Philadelphia, PA, pp. 399-417.

Boachie-Adjei, O. and Cunningham, M.E. (in press) “Revision Spine Surgery in the Growing Child.” In Akbarnia (ed), Spine Surgery in the Growing Child.

Cunningham, M.E. and Boachie-Adjei, O. (in press) Revision Surgeries for Adult Spinal Deformity. In DeWald, R. and Bridwell, K.H. (eds.), The Textbook of Operative Spine Surgery, 3rd Edition.

Selected Presentations

Cunningham, M.E., Tomin, A., Myers, E., Doty, S., and Lane, J. Alendronate Augments Late Mineralization in a Rat Bone Formation Model (Orthopaedic Research Society Meeting, Transactions Vol. 30, Washington, DC, 2005).

Ishikawa, M., Charles, G., Cunningham, M.E., Fukui, Y., and Boachie-Adjei O. (#1103) Surgical Outcomes of Revision Surgery Extended to Sacrum for Post-Surgical Junctional Degeneration in Adult Spine Deformity (Scoliosis Research Society 2006 Annual Meeting, Monterey, CA, 2006).

Cunningham, M.E., Bilgic, S., Lawhorne, T., Rawlins, B., Crystal, R., Boachie-Adjei, O., and Hidaka, C. (#342290, oral presentation) “In Vivo” Kinetic Assessment of Motion in Gene-Mediated Anterior Lumbar Spinal Fusion: A Rat Model (IMAST Meeting, Paradise Island, Bahamas, 2007).

Zhang, K., Cunningham, M.E., van der Meulen, M., Huang, P., Cammisa, F.P., Harten, R.D. (#1689) Improved Spine Fusion Outcomes with a Novel Ceramic-Polymer Composite (Orthopaedic Research Society Transactions, San Francisco, CA, 2008).

Boachie-Adjei, O., Bess, S., Cunningham, M.E., Burton, D.C., Shaffrey, C.I., Shelokov, A.P., Hostin, R.A., Schwab, F.J., Wood, K., Gupta, M., Akbarnia, B.A. ISSG (ePoster #480) Increasing Pain and Disability, Rather than Deformity, Determine Treatment Modality for Older Patients with Adult Scoliosis (IMAST Meeting, Hong Kong, China, 2008).

 

Research Interests

Molecular and cellular biology aspects of bone formation and spinal fusion success
Adapting gene-therapy and gene-delivery technology for minimally invasive or percutaneous spinal fusions
Development of comparative models to study and perfect spinal fusions and fracture care
Prospective clinical outcomes assessment in complex spinal surgery, with emphasis on development of evidence based medicine
Long term assessments of post-surgical complex spinal surgery patients, with emphasis on complication risk factors and techniques for avoidance  

Patient Information

• Appointment Checklist (pdf)
• HSS Rehabilitaton Network

Conditions/Procedures

• Spine - Degenerative Disc Disease
• Spine - Herniated Disc – Lumbar
• Spine - Osteoarthritis
• Spine - Sciatica
• Spine - Scoliosis
• Spine - Spondylolisthesis
• Spine - Stenosis – Lumbar
• Spine - Tumors
• Spine - Lateral Lumbar Interbody Fusion (LLIF)
• Spine - Lumbar – Anterior Lumbar Interbody Fusion (ALIF)
• Spine - Lumbar – Laminectomy
• Spine - Lumbar – Laminectomy, Fusion – Instrumented
• Spine - Lumbar – Laminectomy, Fusion – Uninstrumented
• Spine - Lumbar – Minimally Invasive Approach (PLIF)
• Spine - Lumbar – Minimally Invasive Approach (TLIF)
• Spine - Lumbar – Posterior Lumbar Interbody Fusion (PLIF)
• Spine - Lumbar – Minimally Invasive Discectomy (Percutaneous Disc Removal)
• Spine - Lumbar – Partial Discectomy
• Spine - Lumbar – Transforaminal Lumbar Interbody Fusion (TLIF)
• Spine - Lumbar – Vertebral Body Replacement
• Spine - Thoracic – Scoliosis Treatment: Derotation with Instrumentation
• Spine - Thoracic – Thoracic Laminectomy and Instrumentation
• Spine - Thoracic – Thoracic Vertebral Body Replacement (Anterior)

Directions and HSS Visitor Information

• Directions to HSS
• Visitor Information