Matthew E. Cunningham, MD, PhD
Dr. Matthew E. Cunningham has clinical interest in all types of cervical, thoracic, and lumbar spine care, both operative and non-operative, including spinal deformity (scoliosis, flatback, kyphosis, and spondylolisthesis), acute problems (trauma, herniated disks, pinched nerves/radiculopathy, cauda equina), and degenerative problems (stenosis, degenerative disk disease, revision spinal surgery).
Throughout his career, he has authored numerous clinical and basic science research papers, review articles, and book chapters. He serves as a reviewer for the journal Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research.
As an undergraduate, Dr. Cunningham attended Johns Hopkins University, where he studied Biophysics 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 at Seven Presidents Oceanfront Park in Long Branch, NJ.
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.
During his postgraduate medical training, Dr. Cunningham completed a surgical internship at NewYork Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical College. He also completed an orthopaedic surgery residency and a fellowship in spine and scoliosis surgery at Hospital for Special Surgery.
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. 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 nonsurgical care to underserved peoples.
Appointments
Assistant Attending Orthopaedic Surgeon, 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
Trauma
Certification
Board Eligible, American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery, 2005
State Licensure
New York
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
Special Expertise
Adult and pediatric scoliosis, kyphosis, and spinal deformity
Complex multiplanar spinal deformity: anterior and/or posterior approaches, osteotomies, primary and revision surgeries
Cervical and lumbar spine degenerative disk disease and arthritis
Spondylolisthesis, lumbar spine stenosis and instability
Surgical solutions for radicular pain and weakness due to spinal pathology
Procedures
Adult and pediatric anterior and/or posterior spinal fusions for surgical treatment of scoliosis, kyphosis, and spinal deformity
Non-fusion spinal instrumentation for spinal deformity management in the growing child
Thoracoplasty, osteotomy, vertebrectomy, posterior vertebral column resection for complex spinal deformity reconstruction
Anterior and/or posterior cervical surgery for stenosis, herniated disks, degenerative disk 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
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
Awards
North American Spine Society Young Investigator Research Grant Award, October 2007
Philip D. Wilson Award for Excellence in Orthopaedic Surgery Research, Hospital for Special Surgery, June 2007
Orthopaedic Fellowship Award, New York Chapter of the Arthritis Foundation, July 2005
Clinician Scientist Development Program, AAOS/OREF/ORS, June 2005
New York Orthopedic Hospital Award for Outstanding Research & Clinical Performance, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, May 2000
Affiliations
Volunteer Surgeon, Foundation for Orthopaedics and Complex Spine
Associate Member, North American Spine Society
Candidate Member, American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons
Active Member, Orthopaedic Research Society
Editorial Appointments
Reviewer, Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research
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., Girardi, F., Papadopoulos, E.C., and Cammisa, F.P. (2006) Spinal Infections in Patients with Compromised Immune Systems Clin. Ortho. Related Research. 444, pp. 73-82.
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. (2008) PTH (1-34) Improves Spine Fusion Rate, Fusion Mass Volume and Fusion Mass Quality in a Rabbit Spinal Fusion Model J. Bone and Joint Surg., (in review).
Tomin, E.A., Cunningham, M.E., Vergun, A., Hebebrand, D., Doty, S., Jones, N., Weiland, A., and Lane, J.M. (2008) Molded Vascularized Neo-Ossicle Formation in Silicone Chambers: Novel Technique description and Histological Assessment. Clin.Ortho. Related Research, (in press).
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) Minimally Invasive Gene-Mediated Anterior Spine Fusion: A Feasibility Study in Rats 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., Girardi, F.P., and Bertagnoli, R. (2006) “Nucleus Arthroplasty Technologies” e-published at http://www.nucleusarthroplasty.com, and (2007) bound volume in press.
Cunningham, M.E., Bomback, D., and Boachie-Adjei, O.(2007/2008) “Revision Deformity Surgery.” In Errico, Moulten and Lonner (eds.), Essential Concepts of Spinal Deformity Surgery (in press).
Boachie-Adjei, O. and Cunningham, M.E. (in preparation) Revision Surgeries for Adult Spinal Deformity. In Bridwell, K.H. (ed.), The Textbook of Operative Spine Surgery.
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).
Lawhorne, T., Cunningham, M.E., Kim, J., and Boachie-Adjei, O. Adult Thoracolumbar/Lumbar Scoliosis Treated With Long Vertebral Fusions To The Sacropelvis: A Comparison Between Hybrid Selective Anterior vs. Third Generation Posterior Techniques (Eastern Orthopaedic Association Meeting, Boca Raton, FL, 2006).
Cunningham, M., Bilgic, S., Lawhorne, T., Rawlins, B., Crystal, R., Boachie-Adjei, O., and Hidaka, C. (#325, poster & talk) Gene Mediated Anterior Spine Fusion in the Rat (Orthopaedic Research Society Meeting, San Diego, CA, 2007).
Cunningham, M., 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).
