Dustin Donnelly, MD, PhD

About

Dustin J. Donnelly, MD, PhD, is a fellowship-trained spine surgeon at University Hospitals Spine Institute and an Assistant Professor with Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. Dr. Donnelly sees patients and performs spine surgery at Southwest General Health Center (Middleburg Heights, Ohio) and UH St. John Medical Center (Westlake, Ohio), managing patients with complex spinal deformity, degenerative spine disease, spinal trauma, and intrinsic and extrinsic cancers of the spine.

Dr. Donnelly is recognized as a leading expert in robotic spine surgery. In March 2022, he was the first physician in the Greater Cleveland area to perform spinal surgery using the Mazor X Stealth Edition Robotic Guidance Platform, in a procedure performed at UH St. John Medical Center. The Mazor X platform allows physicians to create a 3D simulation of a planned surgical procedure using CT images of the patient. The platform offers 3D visualization of the surgical area and uses a robotic arm that provides precise placement of surgical tools.

A native of Northeast Ohio, Dr. Donnelly graduated from Highland High School in Medina and earned a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from the University of Akron. He attended Ohio State University College of Medicine (Columbus, Ohio), where he earned a PhD in Integrated Biomedical Science (studying the dichotomous role of the innate immune response after spinal cord injury) in 2011 and his medical degree in 2013.

In June 2014, Dr. Donnelly completed an internship with SUNY Downstate Medical Center’s Department of Anesthesiology (Brooklyn, New York). After finishing his neurosurgery residency at Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Boston Children’s Hospital (Boston, Massachusetts) in 2020, Dr. Donnelly completed a fellowship in neurological surgery at Duke University Medical Center (Durham, North Carolina) in 2021. Following his fellowship training, Dr. Donnelly joined the faculty of UH Spine Institute and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in August 2021.

In his roles as a clinical research fellow, graduate research fellow, graduate research associate and student research assistant, Dr. Donnelly has conducted research in immune responses in secondary injury and repair processes following traumatic brain injury and spinal cord injury, transduction of wild-type and dominant-negative ERK1/2 into melanoma cells, and the development and testing of synthetic peptide vaccines against the HTLV-1 virus, among other research areas.

Among other honors and awards, Dr. Donnelly is the recipient of Student of the Year, Department of Neurosurgery, Ohio State University College of Medicine (2013); Travel Award for National Neurotrauma Society Symposium (2010); Travel Award for “Practical Training Course in Confocal Microscopy and Stereology” (2009); and Scientific Achievement Travel Award, Medical Scientist Training Program, Ohio State University College of Medicine (2009).

Dr. Donnelly has contributed original publications to a variety of peer-reviewed journals, including Nature Communications, Immunology, The Neurohospitalist, World Neurosurgery, NeuroSci, Expert Opinion on Therapeutic Targets, The Journal of Neuroscience, Experimental Neurology and Biotechnology and Bioengineering. In addition, he has published abstracts for research findings presented at meetings of the New England Neurosurgical Society, American Association of Neurological Surgeons, Ohio State University Medical Center Neuroscience Signature Program, Society for Neuroscience Conference, National Neurotrauma Symposium, and International Symposium on Neural Regeneration, among others.

Professional medical societies in which Dr. Donnelly is a member include American Association of Neurological Surgeons, American Physician Scientists Association, Society for Neuroscience and National Neurotrauma Society. Dr. Donnelly also regularly attends training symposiums on spinal surgery, skull base surgery and related topics.