Hes Got Your Back
When Dr. Baron S. Lonner describes spondylolisthesis, a sometimes severe spinal condition in which one of the vertebrae â??falls off the lower part of the spine, he brings the concept of back pain into sharp focus. Luckily for those with this condition's such as a charity case in Egypt, on whom he operated successfully last December's Lonner has a sincere desire to release people from pain. When he is traveling abroad, as he does for one month each year, Lonner wakes at 5 a.m. and is involved in patient care for up to 19 hours a day. Two years ago, in Accra, the capital of Ghana, he and a team of eight specialists completed 42 scoliosis surgeries in five days. â??We need a vacation from the vacation, he said. But these are not vacations. The purpose of the trips is to provide direct care and education for those in the developing world. He has traveled to Barbados, Egypt, the Dominican Republic, Thailand and Sierra Leone, among other places. When he returns to New York, on a Sunday, he swims, sleeps a little, then heads back to work the next morning. â??It"s not work when you love what you do, he said. Lonner grew up in Jericho, Long Island. At age 9 he saw illness in his own family and announced that he wanted to be a doctor. â??My mother liked the sound of that, so that was promoted, he laughs. He is now director of scoliosis and spine associates, and clinical associate professor of orthopaedic surgery at NYU Hospital for Joint Diseases. His trips are self-funded and he donates money to various causes and hospitals abroad. Perhaps more important than the direct care of patients is the training of local surgeons and medical personnel. He first got involved through the non-profit FOCOS (Foundation of Orthopaedics and Complex Spine), begun by a colleague in 1998, which offers care to underserved communities in West Africa. The group also works to train local professionals. Scoliosis is a condition in which a person"s spine is curved from side to side. It can be the result of developmental, congenital or degenerative diseases, but most of the time it has no known cause. Lonner has done research into the genetic causes of scoliosis, and is part of a team that developed ScoliScore, a DNA test that determines whether or not a patient is likely to require surgery. The test reduces the need to undergo regular examinations and X-rays. Lonner lives with his wife, Melissa, a supervising producer at NBC News Today, and their two boys, ages 7 and 10. He is an avid runner and swimmer. His next challenge is an open water swim in Long Island Sound to raise money for cancer research. His future dream's in addition to reducing back pain worldwide's is to swim the English Channel.