Sohail Zahid, MD

Dr. Ali Bydon is a renowned neurosurgeon and director of the Division of Spine Surgery and the Neurosurgical Spine Center at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. As the endowed Ziya Gokaslan Professor of Neurosurgery, he is dedicated to advancing the field through innovative clinical practices and extensive research. Additionally, Dr. Bydon serves as the vice chair for strategic planning within the Department of Neurosurgery. Dr. Bydon’s clinical practice is centered on degenerative disorders of the spine, spinal tumors, spinal trauma and complex spinal reconstruction. He is an esteemed member of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons and the Congress of Neurological Surgeons. Dr. Bydon earned his medical degree from the University of Michigan School of Medicine in 1999 and completed his residency in neurological surgery at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, where he graduated with distinction in 2006. He further honed his skillset by completing fellowships in minimally invasive spine surgery and the surgical treatment of peripheral nerves, followed by a one-year instructorship in spinal oncology and complex reconstructive spinal surgery at Johns Hopkins in 2007. His research focuses on spinal biomechanics and surgical outcomes. He has co-authored over 265 peer-reviewed manuscripts and numerous book chapters. Dr. Bydon has made significant contributions to the understanding of optimal surgical management for conditions such as spinal synovial cysts, cervical myelopathy, lumbar spondylolisthesis, ossified posterior longitudinal ligament, cervical degenerative disorders, cervical myelopathy, thoracic myelopathy and metastatic diseases to the spine, among others. Dr. Bydon has presented at more than 200 national and international scientific meetings, underscoring his commitment to advancing knowledge in the field. An educator who has trained over 75 practicing neurosurgeons, Dr. Bydon has received prestigious accolades, including the Richard Otenasak Faculty Teaching Award and the Chairman’s Neurosurgical Teacher of the Year Award. His leadership roles have included serving on the residency review committee and the patient access committee at Johns Hopkins, as well as a yearlong term as the neurosurgical representative on the Johns Hopkins Faculty Senate. He has also served as a medical director with Johns Hopkins Medicine International, overseeing clinical and educational activities at renowned institutions in Lebanon and Brazil. Dr. Bydon has performed more than 5,000 surgeries. His commitment to excellence in patient care, education and research makes him a leading authority in spine surgery, dedicated to providing transformative care to patients seeking relief and recovery.

Dr. Arthur Burnett is a professor of urology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He is the Patrick C. Walsh Professor of Urology. Dr. Burnett is the director of the Male Consultation Clinic at Johns Hopkins Hospital, a clinician-scientist at the James Buchanan Brady Urological Institute. Dr. Burnett is also Vice Chair for urology faculty development at the James Buchanan Brady Urological Institute Dr. Burnett received his undergraduate degree in biology from Princeton University and his medical degree at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He completed his internship and residency in surgery, and subsequently residency and fellowship in urology at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. Upon completion of his urology residency, he received an American Foundation of Urologic Disease New Investigator Award to continue research work into the regulatory mechanisms of penile erection. He has maintained an active laboratory in neurourology since that time. Dr. Burnett is an established expert in the areas of prostate cancer, lower genitourinary tract malignancies (penile, scrotal, and urethral cancers), lower genitourinary tract reconstruction (pelvic trauma and urethral stricture disease), erectile dysfunction and penile abnormalities (including Peyronies disease), and female urology (including urinary incontinence, urethral abnormalities, and prolapsed pelvic structures). He is an expert prostate cancer surgeon, having performed over 3,000 radical prostatectomies where he has proven his skill at applying a single, minimally invasive 3-inch incision just above the pubic bone to facilitate rapid recovery and cosmesis and using a nerve-sparing technique. He has also developed management approaches to improve postoperative functional outcomes following radical prostatectomy. Dr. Burnett is recognized for being a world-authority in the science and medicine of erectile dysfunction. He contributed original discoveries of the nitric oxide biochemical mechanisms in erectile tissue, which paved the way for the clinical development of oral medications to treat erectile dysfunction such as Viagra. He has also pioneered work to develop therapies to protect penile nerve function required for improved erectile function recovery after radical prostatectomy. Dr. Burnett has written more than 500 original peer-reviewed articles, along with numerous additional articles, editorials, and book chapters, and three books relating to his biomedical research and clinical activities. His work has appeared in many prominent journals such as Science, Nature Medicine, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, New England Journal of Medicine, Journal of Urology, Urology, and Journal of Andrology. He has sat on various advisory committees including the Urology Study Section, National Institutes of Health Center for Scientific Review and FDA Advisory Committee for Reproductive Health Drugs. He also founded and directs a non-profit humanitarian organization called UroMissionsWorks Incorporated. He is an alumni member of the Alpha Omega Honor Medical Society and Fellow of the American College of Surgeons. Among various awards, Dr. Burnett received the Urology Care Foundation Distinguished Mentor Award in 2016, the Distinguished Contribution Award from the American Urological Association in 2018, the Ferdinand C. Valentine Medal from The New York Academy of Medicine in 2020, and the Hugh Hampton Young Award from the American Urological Association in 2022.

Dr. Black is an expert in the care of patients with aortic aneurysms. Dr. Black and the Vascular Team at Hopkins take pride in the fact their techniques and results have been published in the flagship journals in the field of Vascular Surgery. Our peer reviewed results demonstrate a record of safety and operative outcomes that is unrivaled regionally and nationally. Indeed, no other vascular program in the Baltimore, District of Colombia, or the Mid-Atlantic region, has accumulated and demonstrated a similar experience in the care of patients with aortic aneurysms. Dr. Black has been invited to lecture his colleagues, both across the nation and worldwide, on his techniques to manage and repair aneurysms in the abdomen (AAA), thoracic aneurysms (TAA) and thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms (TAAA). Dr. Black has unique experience with management of aortic dissection and genetically inherited conditions that may predispose patients to aortic aneurysm and dissection such as Marfan Syndrome, Loeys-Dietz Syndrome, Vascular Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, and Familial Thoracic Aneurysm and Dissection Syndrome. His experience in this regard has many important implications for all patients with aneurysms, and through these insights, he advocates for his patients to invoke many non-surgical approaches therapies that can reduce the future risk of aneurysm events and thus improves the length and quality of his patients' life.Dr. Black is the most experienced surgeon in the mid-Atlantic Region with both traditional surgical, and more recently complex endovascular repairs using the FDA approved fenestrated endovascular devices. Additionally, he is one of the few surgeons nationwide who has FDA approval for next generation devices that may be suitable for patients with all types of aneurysms that involve the chest and abdomen (TAAA). Dr. Black also collaborates with surgeons in the fields of neurosurgery, surgical oncology and urology to provide vascular reconstructions of all territories in the body to allow cure from cancerous tumors. Many patients are often unfairly denied a chance at cure for fear of involvement of nearby vessels. Dr. Black and colleagues have published their results for reconstruction of veins and nearby arteries for pancreatic cancer and renal cell carcinoma cure.Dr. Black joined the surgical faculty of the Johns Hopkins Hospital in 2004. He completed his General Vascular Surgery Fellowship in the Division of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery at the Massachusetts General Hospital and received his General Surgery Training in the Halsted General Surgery Training Program at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. Dr. Black maintains an active practice in all aspects of vascular surgery. In addition to his interest with open surgical reconstruction of complex aortic disease, he aggressively pursues the application of minimally invasive endovascular technologies for patients with occlusive disease of the carotid, renal, mesenteric, and lower extremity arteries.His research interests include the cellular and molecular events underpinning the development of aortic catastrophe in both atherosclerotic and connective tissue disorders, as well as diagnosis of aortic dissection and malperfusion syndromes. He has also devised protocols that make surgery safer at Hopkins and these have been shared nationwide for the betterment of the field.