Vikas V Varma, MD

Dr. Vikas Varma is board certified, fellowship trained Spine Surgeon. He holds an appointment at the Icahn School of Medicine where he is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Spine Surgery in the Department of Orthopedics, and an attending spine surgeon at the Mount Sinai Medical Center, Manhattan.    As an undergraduate, he completed advanced coursework at Johns Hopkins University as well as the University of Chicago and received his undergraduate bachelor’s degrees from Cornell University, where he was a 4-year Division I athlete. He then received his doctorate in medicine from the University of Maryland prior to matriculating to the University of Connecticut, where he completed a surgical internship followed by a residency in Orthopedic Surgery, where he also served as Chief Resident.    He was then selected as a fellow in the San Diego Spine Fellowship, under the direct tutelage of Dr. Behrooz Akbarnia, a world-renowned spine surgeon, and former president of the prestigious International Scoliosis Research Society, the leading society for the study of complex spine conditions. During his fellowship year, Dr. Varma treated many domestic and international patients with complex and rare spinal conditions in both the adult and pediatric populations, including major spinal reconstruction for spinal deformity, and revision surgery. He also was fortunate to receive training in advanced minimally invasive surgery and motion preservation surgery as a part of the comprehensive fellowship program.    Dr. Varma remains active in the Scoliosis Research Society and is academically active as a faculty member within the Mount Sinai Department of Orthopedics where he is routinely involved in teaching medical students, orthopedic surgery residents, as well as fellows as part of the Sinai Spine Fellowship program. In the past, he has served as the Chief of Spine Surgery at Mount Sinai Hospital of Queens and Saint Barnabas Hospital.  His interests in spine surgery include complex spine surgery, revision spine surgery, and spinal deformity surgery, as well as the use of minimally invasive techniques whenever possible.    In 2009, Dr. Varma performed the first Extreme Lateral Interbody Fusion(XLIF) at the Mount Sinai Medical Center and remains committed to minimally invasive surgery techniques.  In 2017, he performed the first Oblique Lateral Interbody Fusion (OLIF) at Mount Sinai and continues to research the use of minimally invasive techniques in complex spine conditions to better facilitate patient recovery and improved patient outcomes.    A meticulous surgeon, Dr. Varma comes from a family of physicians and prides himself on his ethical, personalized, detail-oriented approach to patient care.     PRESENTATIONS   

• Minimally Invasive Treatment Strategies for Lumbar Spinal Stenosis, Mount Sinai Medical Center 2009 
• Operative Treatment of Low Back Pain—University of California, San Diego 2007 
• Adult Degenerative Scoliosis—San Diego Center for Spinal Disorders 2008 
• Cervical Spine Trauma—San Diego Center for Spinal Disorders 2007 
• Complications in Spine Surgery—San Diego Center for Spinal Disorders 2007 
• The Aging Spine—San Diego Center for Spinal Disorders 2008 
• Opthalmologic Complications Associated with Prone Positioning—San Diego Center for Spinal Disorders 2008 
• Sagittal Imbalance Disorders—San Diego Center for Spinal Disorders 2007 
• Spinal Infections and Tumors—San Diego Center for Spinal Disorders 2008 
• Thoracolumbar Fractures—San Diego Center for Spinal Disorders 2007 
• Spinal Cord Injury—San Diego Center for Spinal Disorders 2008 
• Congenital Kyphosis—San Diego Children’s Hospital 2008 
• Spine Trauma and Revision Spine Surgery—Hartford Hospital 2006 
• Treatment Strategies in Thromboembolic Disease—Hartford Hospital 2005 
• Revision Totat Hip Arthroplasty—Hartford Hospital 2006