Daniel Pak, M.D.

Payal Patel is board-certified Adult-Gerontology Nurse Practitioner originally from Metro-Detroit, Michigan. She obtained her Bachelors in Neuroscience from Michigan State University and her Bachelors in Nursing from University of Detroit Mercy. Payal has over 4.5 years of nursing experience where she was initially trained in the Neuro Trauma ICU and later transitioned to Medical-Surgical ICU at Ascension Providence hospital in Michigan.While working in the ICU, Payal went on to complete her Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) as part of the Adult Gerontology Nurse Practitioner program from University of Michigan (UofM) in Ann Arbor, MI. She was an active board member of the Michigan Council of Nurse Practitioners and volunteered at the UofM Free Clinic for uninsured/underinsured patients. During her studies, she had clinical training at Michigan Medicine's Neurosurgery Spine Center where she gained vast knowledge on chronic and acute pain related to spinal diseases.

Kai-Ming Fu, MD, PhD, is a board-certified neurosurgeon at Och Spine at NewYork-Presbyterian at Weill Cornell Medicine Center for Comprehensive Spine Care. His specialty is advanced surgical procedures for spinal deformity, reconstruction, and oncology; sacroiliac joint conditions; and low back pain, especially pain caused by previously undetected and under-diagnosed conditions. He has been at the forefront of the surgical progression toward less invasive techniques, using neuro-navigation, image guidance, and other advanced technologies that reduce recovery times for his patients. Dr. Fu is a co-editor of the 2023 textbook Treatment of Spine Disease in the Elderly: Cutting Edge Techniques and Technologies Dr. Fu obtained his undergraduate degrees from Stanford University and his medical and graduate training in the MD/PhD program at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. After completing his residency and chief residency in neurosurgery at the University of Virginia, Dr. Fu completed a combined neurosurgical/orthopedic spine fellowship at the University of Virginia under Dr. Christopher Shaffrey, where he received advanced training in deformity, reconstructive, and oncological spine surgery.Dr. Fu combines his clinical interests in deformity, reconstructive, revision, and tumor surgery with active research in clinical outcomes. His work has been presented at multiple national and international meetings and been published in journals such as Spine, Journal of Neurosurgery, Neurosurgery, Journal of Neurophysiology, and Journal of Neuroscience. He has been nominated for and won multiple awards at meetings such as the Scoliosis Research Society Annual Meeting and the Annual Meeting of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons. His work has been featured in the Journal of Neurosurgery Spine, Spine Deformity, Spinal News and Orthopedics Today. Dr. Fu sees patients at Och Spine at NewYork-Presbyterian at Weill Cornell Medicine Center for Comprehensive Spine Care: 240 East 59th Street, 2nd floor, New York, NY 10022. Dr. Fu is the chief of neurosurgery at NewYork-Presbyterian Lower Manhattan.For more information, please visit https://comprehensivespine.weillcornell.orgTo request an appointment with Dr. Fu, please visit https://neurosurgery.weillcornell.org or call 212-746-2260.