Chief of Spine Service Appointed at Lenox Hill Hospital

September 12, 2005

Fabien D. Bitan MD, has been appointed Chief of the Spine Service at Lenox Hill Hospital. The appointment, effective September 6, 2005 was announced by Chitranjan Ranawat, MD, Chairman of the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at Lenox Hill Hospital.

"Dr. Bitan is a highly regarded and respected spine surgeon. We are pleased that he has joined our outstanding orthopedics program and look forward to his developing a comprehensive program including state-of-the-art patient care, research and development, and teaching in the field of spinal surgery," said Chitranjan Ranawat, MD.

A native of Paris, France and an internationally recognized spine surgeon, Dr. Bitan comes to Lenox Hill Hospital from The Spine Institute at Beth Israel Medical Center in Manhattan where he was Associate Director.

Dr. Bitan received his medical degree in 1985 from Paris University and did his post graduate training at the Institut Calot, one of the most prominent centers in Europe for the treatment of spinal diseases.

Dr. Bitan is recognized as a leading expert in degenerative spine diseases and spinal instrumentation, especially in scoliosis and kyphosis. He practiced spine surgery at the Hospital for Sick Children in Paris, France and at the Hopital Beaujon (Paris) from 1989 to 1996 and specialized in spine deformities on pediatric and adult patients. After ten years of combined academic and private practice in France, he moved to New York City in 1996.

Dr. Bitan successfully completed two fellowships in Manhattan ? in Pediatric Orthopedics at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York and in Spine Surgery at Beth Israel Medical Center. His practice is exclusively focused on spinal surgery, which includes spinal deformities and degenerative spine diseases.

Dr. Bitan has served as principal investigator on numerous clinical trials, including an FDA trial for artificial disc procedures, and participates in the training of other surgeons to adopt this innovative technology. He also conducted research in the field of scoliosis, minimally invasive spinal surgery and the treatment of osteoporotic spinal fractures using percutaneous expansive balloons technique.

He is the author of more than 60 publications and presentations in the U.S. and in Europe, and is the chief editor of a recently published American textbook on spine deformities and of an upcoming textbook on minimally invasive spine surgery.

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