Meet Physicians

Dr. Jared D. Ament is a Board Certified, fellowship-trained neurosurgeon. Dr. Ament is known as the “anti-fusion doctor”, specializing in motion preservation artificial disc technology for both the neck and lower back. He and Dr. Vokshoor are the principal investigators in three ongoing FDA national trials, exploring the latest in artificial disc technologies in order to bring the very best to their patients.

He specializes in complex and minimally invasive brain and spine surgery, using the latest technologies, including neuronavigation and robotics. He focuses on the management of spinal deformity, degenerative spine diseases, brain and spine tumors, facial pain/spasm syndromes (trigeminal neuralgia, hemifacial spasm, and glossopharyngeal neuralgia).

Dr. Ament is also an advocate for motion preserving spine surgery and technology for the appropriate patients (artificial cervical and lumbar discs, facet off-loading devices, etc). Dr. Ament received his Hon. BSc. from the University of Toronto and his MD from the Medical School for International Health, a collaborative initiative between Ben-Gurion University in Israel and Columbia University, NY. He completed his surgical internship at the University of Massachusetts and a post-doctoral fellowship in surgical outcomes at Harvard Medical School. His Master of Public Health degree is from the Harvard School of Public Health and he served as adjunct faculty at Harvard’s department of Population Health and Epidemiology. He completed his neurosurgical training at University of California, Davis and an enfolded complex and minimally invasive spine fellowship at Cedars Sinai Medical Center under Dr. J. Pat Johnson and Dr. Todd Lanman.

Dr. Ament has specific research interests in cost-effectiveness, cost-utility analyses, economic modeling, decision analysis, international surgery, and medical education. He has spearheaded several large projects both in the USA and other countries including Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Ethiopia, Sudan, Ecuador, and Bolivia. He is the first or senior author on over 25 papers, publications, several book chapters, and has presented work on cost-effectiveness at national and international conferences. Dr. Ament’s economic models have resulted in national reform towards increased government and payer support for various surgical interventions.

He is the recipient of the Mayfield Clinical Science and John Hanbery Awards, for the best clinical papers related to his work on the cost-effectiveness of artificial disc technology in patients with degenerative cervical spine disease. He was also part of team that introduced the first Neurosurgical Boot Camp to South American trainees in Bolivia in an effort to standardize neurosurgical education abroad.