About Isador H. Lieberman, MD, MBA, FRCSC
Dr. Lieberman is a fellowship-trained orthopaedic and spinal surgeon who is board certified by the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery. He holds specialist certification from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. He completed medical school and residency at the University of Toronto. He completed spine surgery and trauma surgery fellowships at the Toronto Hospital in Canada and at Queen's Medical Center in Nottingham, England. He held a full-time academic appointment at the University of Toronto and was on the academic staff of the Toronto Hospital up to his recruitment to the Cleveland Clinic. He obtained his master's degree in business administration from Cleveland State University.
He was appointed to the faculty of the Cleveland Clinic Ohio as a staff surgeon in 1997 and earned the rank of Professor of surgery at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine. He also was appointed Chairman, Department of Medical Intervention and Surgical Spine Care. He held the following joint appointments at Cleveland Clinic Ohio: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Department of Neurosurgery, Taussig Cancer Center, Women's Health Center, and Cleveland Clinic Spine Institute.
Dr. Lieberman specializes in the surgical treatment of spinal disorders. His clinical interests include: minimally invasive/endoscopic spinal surgery, adolescent and adult scoliosis, deformity reconstruction, cervical and lumbar degenerative disorders, including herniated discs and stenosis, spinal tumors, infections and trauma. Dr. Lieberman has a special interest in the treatment of osteoporotic compression fractures (using kyphoplasty) and also in the treatment of the musculoskeletal manifestations of multiple myeloma. Dr. Lieberman's research interests include: clinical outcomes in spinal surgery, biomechanics of spinal implants, robotics for spinal surgery, and disc replacement technologies. He has also conceived and developed a number of spinal surgery instruments and implants and has 12 issued and 12 pending US patents.
Dr. Lieberman is recognized nationally and internationally for his contributions to minimally invasive/endoscopic spinal surgery and for his contributions to the treatment of osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures. Through research, clinical trials, and surgical innovation, he has been instrumental in advancing the use of minimally invasive spinal surgery techniques to treat herniated discs, lumbar degenerative disorders, osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures and scoliosis. He has over 70 peer-reviewed publications and over 40 book chapters to his credit. He has presented over 150 invited lectures at universities, hospitals, national meetings and international meetings.
Dr. Lieberman has edited a book, Minimal Access Spinal Surgery. He was the senior editor for Advances in Osteoporotic Fracture Management, and is a member of the editorial review boards for Spine, the European Spine Society Journal, the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, and the Journal of Spinal Disorders & Techniques.
Dr. Lieberman is also recognized nationally and internationally for his contributions to continuing medical education, teaching of medical students and residents, and the training of clinical as well as research spinal fellows. He has chaired over 40 hands-on training courses teaching minimally invasive spinal surgical techniques to over 500 surgeons. He has chaired or co-chaired 4 CME courses for the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (over 200 participants). He was the co-chair of the Cleveland Clinic Hands on Spine Review Course and also co-chaired the first combined Turkish Spine Society Hands on Review Course. From 1994 on, he has trained 38 clinical spine fellows, 3 research post-graduate fellows, and currently is supervising one post-graduate research spine fellow and is mentoring 3 resident research projects.
In January 2005, Dr. Lieberman was elected to the Board of Governors for a 4-year term. He was the director of the Minimally Invasive Surgery Center and was the director of the newly established Center for Advanced Skills Training. He was selected to be a team leader for the World Class Service initiative. He chaired the Minimally Invasive Surgery Center operations committee, and sat on the International Center Advisory Board committee. He sat on the Board of Trustees Marketing committee, as well as the Conflict of Interest committee. He was instrumental in establishing the Combined Multiple Myeloma Clinic and the Multidisciplinary Vertebral Compression Fracture Clinic. He was also instrumental in establishing Health Link Canada, as well as the Cayman Island Referral Program. Dr. Lieberman also was Chairman of the Department of Medical, Interventional and Surgical Spine Care at Cleveland Clinic Florida.
Along with his Cleveland Clinic-related responsibilities, Dr. Lieberman was chairman of the Multidisciplinary Patient Care Committee and served as vice chairman of the Operative Coding Committee for the North American Spine Society. He sits on the Adult Spine Evaluation Subcommittee for the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, and he is the chair of the AAOS Maintenance of Certification course. He also serves on the scientific advisory board for a variety of prominent medical device manufacturers and start up spine companies. In 2005, he founded the implant development company Merlot OrthopediX.
In early 2010, Dr. Lieberman joined the Texas Back Institute in Plano.
In addition to his local responsibilities Dr. Lieberman, along with Dr. Mark Kayanja, established the Uganda Charitable Spine Surgery Mission. The two and a team of surgeons visit Uganda each year to educate those who serve and treat the less privileged with spinal afflictions.
