Sariah Khormaee, MD, PhD

Spine Surgery

About Dr. Khormaee

Dr. Sariah Khormaee is a spine surgeon with expertise treating adult and pediatric spine conditions. She cares deeply about the well-being and safety of her patients. She believes that maximizing mobility and preservation of lifestyle are best achieved through careful planning and meticulous surgical technique. In her practice, she treats a continuum of spine diagnoses from adolescent scoliosis to adult arthritic spinal cord compression. Prior to recommending surgery, she will consider all treatment approaches in order to optimize short and long term outcomes. These may include minimally invasive, computer-navigated and motion-preserving techniques when appropriate, in addition to the more traditional surgical methods.

A native of the Pacific Northwest, Dr. Khormaee graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Washington as President's Medalist/Valedictorian. She then completed her MD at Harvard Medical School-MIT Health Sciences Technology with Honors. She earned her PhD from Cambridge University, United Kingdom in Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, receiving the Danckwerts-Pergamon Prize for best PhD.

Completing her orthopedic residency at Hospital for Special Surgery, Dr. Khormaee received multiple awards including the Distinguished Housestaff Award by HSS faculty for best graduating resident. She then completed a specialized spine fellowship at Stanford University Medical Center, training with orthopedic surgeons and neurosurgeons to apply the most current, efficacious techniques from both fields.

Dr. Khormaee is committed to advancing global spine care research and education through bioengineering and translational science. In addition to her research and practice in the United States, she has traveled extensively to collaborate with spine specialists in Ghana, Myanmar and Vietnam. She leads nonprofit efforts to alleviate spine care inequalities and to engage young women with scoliosis in research.

Profile Video

Departments

Orthopedic Surgery
Spine

Special Expertise

Atlantoaxial and occipitocervical pathology
Atlantoaxial instability
Balance problems from myelopathy/spinal cord compression
Cervical structural conditions (including after fracture)
Cervical myelopathy
Cervical radiculopathy
Cervical spondylosis
Degenerative disc disease
Degenerative spondylolisthesis (slipped vertebrae)
Facet arthropathy/arthritis
Fractures of the spine
Herniated disc in the cervical spine
Herniated disc in the lumbar spine
Instability
Kyphosis
Leg pain from nerve compression
Scheuermann's kyphosis
Sciatica
Scoliosis (Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis, Adult degenerative scoliosis)
Spinal stenosis
Spine fractures/trauma
Spondylolysis/Pars Fractures

Procedures

Anterior cervical corpectomy and fusion
Anterior cervical discectomy and fusion
Atlantoaxial fusion (C1-2 Fusion)
Cervical disc replacement/cervical disc arthroplasty
Cervical foraminotomy
Cervical fusion
Cervical laminoplasty
Lumbar discogram
Lumbar fusions including via anterior, lateral and posterior approaches
Microdecompression/Laminectomy
Microdiscectomy - removal of disc herniation
Scoliosis surgery

Patient Stories

Videos

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Insurance

If your insurance is not listed, please call our office if you have questions regarding your insurance coverage. If you have out-of-network benefits, then your insurance may reimburse you for a portion of your office visit. We will work with you and your insurance to minimize your out-of-pocket costs. Financial assistance may be available for patients in need.

Credentials

Appointments

Assistant Attending Orthopedic Surgeon, Hospital for Special Surgery
Assistant Professor of Orthopedic Surgery, Weill Cornell Medical College
Assistant Attending Orthopedic Surgeon, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital

Affiliations

American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS)
Research Society (ORS)
North American Spine Society (NASS)
Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Osteosynthesefragen (AO)
Spine Consortium for Orthopedic Academic Traumatologists (COACT)

Awards

Weill Cornell Medical Center/HSS Distinguished Housestaff Award
Hospital for Special Surgery Russell Wilson Resident Research Award
Hospital for Special Surgery Thomas Sculco Resident Award
Rudin Family Foundation Basic Science Research Grant
ORS/OREF Resident Research Award
Andrew Swanson, MD Alumni Traveling Fellowship
Health Volunteers Overseas Resident Fellowship
American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons (AAOS) Clinician Scientist Training Program
Cambridge University Danckwerts-Pergamon Prize
NIH F30 Ruth L Kirschstein National Research Service Award Grant
Marshall Scholar University of Washington President's Medalist

Education

MD, Harvard Medical School
PhD, Cambridge University

Internship

Hospital for Special Surgery

Residency

Hospital for Special Surgery

Fellowship

Stanford University Medical Center

State Licensure

Languages

English

For My Patients

For more information about Dr. Khormaee and her practice, please visit www.SKspineMD.com.

Directions to The Pavilion

My office is located at The Pavilion, 541 East 71st Street. The main entrance to The Pavilion is on the north side of 71st Street underneath the sky bridge that connects the main hospital to the Belaire Building.

Publications by Dr. Khormaee

For all publications, please see the PubMed listing.

Patient Education

Selected Presentations

Khormaee S, Chatterjee A, Chang P, Kamel H. Safety of tranexamic acid use in adult spinal fusion surgery patients. American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Conference, 2019. Las Vegas, NV.

Khormaee S, Chatterjee A, Geiselmann M, Chang P, Kamel H. Safety of tranexamic acid use in pediatric spinal fusion surgery patients. American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Conference, 2019. Las Vegas, NV.

Sheha ED, Salzmann S, Khormaee S, Yang J, Do H, Girardi FG, Cammisa F, Sama A, Lyman S. Patient factors affecting emergency department utilization and hospital readmission rates after primary anterior cervical discectomy and fusion: A review of 41,813 cases. American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Conference, 2019. Las Vegas, NV.

Khormaee S, Christ A, Yallowitz A, Horowitz C, Xu R, Healey J, Greenblatt M. Schnurri-3 deficiency protects from osteolysis in a mouse model of metastatic breast cancer. Orthopedic Research Society Annual Meeting, 2017. San Diego, California.

Khormaee S, Choe J, Ruzbarsky JJ, Agarwal K, Blanco JB, Dodwell ER. Analysis of Fragility Index in Pediatric Orthopedic Randomized Controlled Trials: An Additional Metric to Explore the Robustness of Study Conclusions. EPOSNA 2017. Barcelona, Spain.

Khormaee S, Do H, Mayr Y. New onset perioperative atrial fibrillation during orthopedic surgery and incidence of ischemic stroke. American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Conference, 2016. Orlando, Florida.

Khormaee S, Pollock NR, Colby D, McGray S, Rolland JP, Kumar S, Beattie PD, Jain S, Quang VM, Ryan US. A priceless diagnosis for pennies: A novel paper-based microfluidic liver function diagnostic for low resource settings. Whitaker Foundation Enrichment Seminar, 2012. Prague, Czech Republic.

Xu B, Khormaee S, Wu H, Cofiell S, Griffiths GL. Synthesis of fluorescently labeled and sulfhydryl-modified pH sensitive polymers for development as siRNA delivery agents. American Society of Nanomedicine, 2009. Rockville, Maryland.

Khormaee S, Chen R, Park JK, Slater NK. pH sensitive polymer enhancement of PEI mediated siRNA delivery. Biochemical Engineering Research Network Annual Showcase, 2008. Birmingham, United Kingdom.

Research

Dr. Khormaee has an extensive background in biomaterials and clinical research. Her current research projects advance comparative spine implant evaluation, optimize biocompatibility of spine surgical techniques and extend high quality spine implant availability worldwide.

Industry Relationships

HSS has a long history of supporting appropriate relationships with industry because they advance HSS's mission to provide the highest quality patient care, improve patient mobility, and enhance the quality of life for all, and to advance the science of orthopedic surgery, rheumatology, and their related disciplines through research and education.

Below are the healthcare industry relationships reported by Dr. Khormaee as of March 23, 2023.

Enuval (formerly Innovate Spine) - Founder
Merck - Ownership Interest
Novo Nordisk - Ownership Interest
Surgical Implant Generation Network - Board or Committee Member

HSS and its physicians make this information available to patients and the public, thus creating a transparent environment for those who are interested in this information. Further, the HSS Conflicts of Interest and Commitment Policy prohibits physicians from collecting royalties on products they develop that are used on patients at HSS.

Patients should feel free to ask their HSS physicians questions about these relationships.

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