George Spink is the senior spinal Neurosurgeons for East Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire. Between 2009 and 2017 he was the Clinical Director of Spinal Surgery for this region. His elective practice is entirely spinal. As such he undertakes all aspects of elective and emergency spinal surgery dealing with:

• Simple degenerative spinal pathology
• Complex degenerative spinal deformity
• Spinal tumours
• Spinal trauma
• Joint replacement surgery

Over the last decade he has been responsible for helping coordinate the development of spinal surgery services in the region, with particular reference to metastatic spinal cord compression, spinal cord injuries and spinal column fractures. He maintains membership of the European Spinal Society (EuroSpine), British Association of Spinal Surgeons (BASS) and the Society of British Neurosurgeons (SBNS) and regularly attends their academic meetings and conferences. Since starting his consultancy George has carried out medicolegal work and also been involved with industry, working as a spinal technology expert on international advisory panels for multinational companies. His recent NHS driven research incudes:

• Outcomes in metastatic spinal cord compression
• UCES (National cauda equina study)
• Cervical fractures in the elderly population
• Intraoperative spinal cord monitoring during spinal tumour surgery
• Fusion vs Arthroplasty in cervical disc disease
• ENTICE (National cauda equina study)
• PROMs in spinal surgery
• Dynamic stabilisation in lumbar discectomy
• Outcomes in spinal stenosis surgery
• Accuracy in spinal instrumentation
• Improving diagnosis in cauda equina syndrome

George was trained in Spinal Neurosurgery by Mr Adrian Casey and Professor Alan Crockard, at The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, Mr David Peterson at Charing Cross Hospital and Mr John Brecknell at Queens Hospital in London. On completing his training George took up a Consultant Neurosurgeon post at The John Radcliffe Hosptial in Oxford. He then moved to East Yorkshire when he was offered the role as head of Department for Spinal Surgery at Hull Royal Infirmary.

Outside of clinical medicine, he is a multi-award winning teacher with the local medical school (Hull York Medical School - HYMS) as a phase 1 academic tutor and an honorary senior clinical tutor for phase 2 and 3.

In his youth George had varied interests including:

• Represented GB (International Athletics)
• Dorset Young Businessman of the Year
• ATC National leadership course winner (SAS, RAF Hereford)
• RAF Flying scholarship
• Shotokan Karate (1st Dan)
• Grade 7 (Piano and Oboe)

Now he prefers more sedentary pursuits including landscape photography, astronomy, Munro bagging and completing the Trail 100. His website is located at www.heyneurosurgeon.co.uk and he tweets regularly on spinal and medical education topics @heyneurosurgeon.