Expert list · Last reviewed April 17, 2026
Top Spine Surgery Doctors in California 2026
Top spine surgery doctors in California for 2026, with clinical focus, hospital affiliations, and research that shapes today's treatment standards.
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California has a small group of spine surgery doctors whose case volume, academic work, and peer standing put them among the most trusted in the country — this is where to start.
The surgeons below operate at the state's major academic and referral centers, from UCSF and Stanford in the north to Scripps and the Hoag/Providence network in the south. They focus on the hard cases — adult scoliosis, failed prior fusions, cervical myelopathy, and spinal cord injury — and their published research has shaped how spine teams across the country decide when to operate, which approach to use, and how to prevent infection and revision surgery.
Dr. Mok operates out of Dameron Hospital with privileges at Stanford Health Care. He treats adult spinal deformity, complex lumbar and cervical problems, and patients who need revision fusions. His research on deep wound infection and C-reactive protein 12 gave spine teams a faster way to catch problems in the days after surgery, and his work on reoperation after adult spinal deformity fusion 3 helped set expectations for long-term follow-up.
Dr. Eastlack is a spine surgeon with Scripps, practicing across Scripps Mercy, Scripps Memorial La Jolla, and Scripps Green. His focus is adult cervical and thoracolumbar deformity — curves and alignment problems that cause pain, imbalance, or nerve pressure as people age. He contributed to the first widely used cervical deformity classification 4 and to comparative studies of minimally invasive versus open deformity surgery 56 that patients' surgeons rely on when choosing an approach.
Dr. Deviren is on the orthopaedic surgery faculty at UCSF Medical Center in San Francisco. He handles some of the hardest cases in California spine care, including flatback deformity after a previous fusion and pediatric congenital scoliosis that requires hemivertebra removal 7. Recent work on pelvic fixation and rod constructs 8 and on revision surgery for iatrogenic flatback 9 speaks to his focus on durable alignment for patients facing their second or third spine operation.
Dr. Deckey practices at Hoag Orthopedic Institute and Providence Mission Hospital in Orange County. He treats cervical, thoracic, and lumbar spine problems — including infections, degenerative disc disease, and hardware complications. His widely cited paper on loss of correction after spinal implant removal 10 is still used to counsel patients about whether to take hardware out once a long fusion has healed, and he has reported on rare failure patterns in artificial cervical disc replacements 11.
Dr. Carlson operates at Providence Mission Hospital in Orange. His clinical work spans cervical spondylosis, spinal cord injury, and complex fusions, and he has been one of the more prolific California voices on anterior cervical surgery. His studies on pseudarthrosis after cervical fusion and on revision cervical arthrodesis 1213 shape how surgeons decide when a fusion is truly healed, and his lab work on early decompression after spinal cord injury 14 helped make the case for operating sooner rather than later in trauma.
Dr. Theologis is a spine surgeon at UCSF Medical Center in San Francisco. He focuses on adult deformity, cervical myelopathy, and the long reconstructions that are most prone to complications. His study on putting vancomycin powder directly into the wound during deformity surgery 15 helped bring infection rates down at centers across the country, and his research on how a prior lumbar fusion changes hip replacement risk 16 is now part of how orthopaedic teams plan care for patients who need both.
What to look for in a spine surgery specialist
- Board certification in orthopaedic surgery or neurosurgery, with fellowship training in spine
- Academic affiliation with a teaching hospital, especially for complex or revision cases
- Subspecialty focus matching your problem — deformity, cervical, minimally invasive, or trauma
- High annual volume of your specific procedure, not just spine surgery in general
- Wait time and whether they are accepting new patients in your insurance network
Questions to ask before your first appointment
- How many patients with my condition do you treat each year?
- Is surgery the right next step, or should I try more conservative care first?
- What is your own complication and revision rate for this operation?
- How many nights in the hospital should I expect, and what does recovery look like at six weeks and six months?
- Will you be the surgeon performing every part of the operation?
- What would make you recommend a minimally invasive approach instead of an open one, or the reverse?
The bottom line
If you are in California and facing spine surgery, start with a surgeon whose focus matches your specific problem and who operates regularly at a hospital equipped for complex cases. Bring your imaging to a second consult if the first surgeon's plan feels uncertain, and ask your primary care doctor or insurer for a referral into one of the academic networks above if a community surgeon is not sure what to do next.
Sources
- 1.Bone Morphogenetic Protein (BMP) signaling in development and human diseases — Genes & Diseases, 2014. DOI
- 2.The versatile functions of Sox9 in development, stem cells, and human diseases — Genes & Diseases, 2014. DOI
- 3.
- 4.Clinical Outcome of Deep Wound Infection After Instrumented Posterior Spinal Fusion — Spine, 2009. DOI
- 5.
- 6.Reliability assessment of a novel cervical spine deformity classification system — Journal of Neurosurgery Spine, 2015. DOI
- 7.Complications in adult spinal deformity surgery: an analysis of minimally invasive, hybrid, and open surgical techniques — Neurosurgical FOCUS, 2014. DOI
- 8.Comparison of two minimally invasive surgery strategies to treat adult spinal deformity — Journal of Neurosurgery Spine, 2015. DOI
- 9.
- 10.Comprehensive study of back and leg pain improvements after adult spinal deformity surgery: analysis of 421 patients with 2-year follow-up and of the impact of the surgery on treatment satisfaction — Journal of Neurosurgery Spine, 2015. DOI
- 11.Maintenance of radiographic correction at 2 years following lumbar pedicle subtraction osteotomy is superior with upper thoracic compared with thoracolumbar junction upper instrumented vertebra — European Spine Journal, 2014. DOI
- 12.Excision of hemivertebrae in the management of congenital scoliosis involving the thoracic and thoracolumbar spine — Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery - British Volume, 2001. DOI
- 13.Effects of pelvic fixation strategies and multi-rod constructs on biomechanics of the proximal junction in long thoracolumbar posterior instrumented fusions: a finite-element analysis — Spine Deformity, 2024. DOI
- 14.Impact of lumbar pedicle subtraction osteotomy (PSO) level on global alignment and proportion (GAP) score in revision adult iatrogenic flatback spinal deformities — Spine Deformity, 2025. DOI
- 15.168. A comparative analysis of racial disparities in nationally derived hospital data and two prospective multicenter surgical databases of adult spinal deformity surgery — The Spine Journal, 2022. DOI
- 16.
- 17.
- 18.
- 19.Blood Serum Antibody Analysis and Long-Term Follow-up of Patients Treated With Recombinant Human Bone Morphogenetic Protein-2 in the Lumbar Spine — Spine, 2011. DOI
- 20.Mechanical failure of the Mobi-C implant for artificial cervical disc replacement: report of 4 cases — Journal of Neurosurgery Spine, 2020. DOI
- 21.Radiculopathy and Myelopathy at Segments Adjacent to the Site of a Previous Anterior Cervical Arthrodesis* — Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, 1999. DOI
- 22.
- 23.
- 24.Early Time-Dependent Decompression for Spinal Cord Injury: Vascular Mechanisms of Recovery — Journal of Neurotrauma, 1997. DOI
- 25.
- 26.Cartilage in Anterior Cruciate Ligament–Reconstructed Knees: MR Imaging T1<sub>ρ</sub>and T2—Initial Experience with 1-year Follow-up — Radiology, 2010. DOI
- 27.Clonal precursor of bone, cartilage, and hematopoietic niche stromal cells — Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2013. DOI
- 28.Local Intrawound Vancomycin Powder Decreases the Risk of Surgical Site Infections in Complex Adult Deformity Reconstruction — Spine, 2014. DOI
- 29.Prior Lumbar Spinal Arthrodesis Increases Risk of Prosthetic-Related Complication in Total Hip Arthroplasty — The Journal of Arthroplasty, 2016. DOI
- 30.Evaluation of Bone Bruises and Associated Cartilage in Anterior Cruciate Ligament–Injured and –Reconstructed Knees Using Quantitative T <sub>1ρ</sub> Magnetic Resonance Imaging: 1‐Year Cohort Study — Arthroscopy The Journal of Arthroscopic and Related Surgery, 2010. DOI
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