Christopher Witiw

MD, MS, FRCSC

Investigator

Biography

Christopher Witiw entered the neurosurgery residency program at the University of Toronto after completing his MD at the University of Manitoba in 2012. During his residency he completed a MS degree with a focus on Health Economics at The University of Chicago after receiving an award from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. His thesis on the value of surgery for Degenerative Cervical Myelopathy was awarded the prestigious Outstanding Paper Award from the North American Spine Society in 2016. He has received numerous other awards including the Shafie S. Fazel Outstanding Resident Surgeon and Investigator Award from the University of Toronto Department of Surgery and the Alan R. Hudson Neurosurgery Resident Teaching Award from the University of Toronto Division of Neurosurgery. After obtaining his FRCSC in Neurosurgery in 2018, Chris undertook a subspecialty fellowship in Complex and Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. Chris returns to Toronto as a Surgeon Investigator at St. Michael’s Hospital where his clinical work is directed toward treating the full spectrum of spinal disorders. He has a specific interest in minimally invasive approaches to spinal conditions. Chris’ research work is centered on Health Economics and Health Services pertinent to spinal pathology and he is especially interested in ‘big data’ analytics as a means to optimize efficiency and quality of spine surgery.

Spine Research Program 

 

Recent Publications

  1. Hamel, C, Avard, B, Dea, N, Margau, R, Mattar, A, Michaud, A et al.. Canadian Association of Radiologists Spine Imaging Referral Guideline. Can Assoc Radiol J. 2024; :8465371241290762. doi: 10.1177/08465371241290762. PubMed PMID:39437341 .
  2. Shakil, H, Malhotra, AK, Essa, A, Landry, AP, Suppiah, S, Sahgal, A et al.. Chordoma incidence, treatment, and survival in the 21st century: a population-based Ontario cohort study. J Neurosurg. 2024; :1-10. doi: 10.3171/2024.6.JNS24426. PubMed PMID:39423422 .
  3. Malhotra, AK, Jaffe, RH, Shakil, H, Mathieu, F, Nathens, AB, Kulkarni, AV et al.. Unemployment and Personal Income Loss After Traumatic Brain Injury. JAMA Surg. 2024; :. doi: 10.1001/jamasurg.2024.4285. PubMed PMID:39382862 .
  4. Hu, Z, Patel, M, Ball, RL, Lin, HM, Prevedello, LM, Naseri, M et al.. Assessing the Performance of Models from the 2022 RSNA Cervical Spine Fracture Detection Competition at a Level I Trauma Center. Radiol Artif Intell. 2024; :e230550. doi: 10.1148/ryai.230550. PubMed PMID:39298563 .
  5. Malhotra, AK, Nathens, AB, Shakil, H, Jaffe, RH, Essa, A, Mathieu, F et al.. Days at Home After Traumatic Brain Injury: Moving Beyond Mortality to Evaluate Patient-Centered Outcomes Using Population Health Data. Neurology. 2024;103 (8):e209904. doi: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000209904. PubMed PMID:39284113 .
  6. Shakil, H, Essa, A, Malhotra, AK, Jaffe, RH, Smith, CW, Yuan, EY et al.. Insurance-Related Disparities in Withdrawal of Life Support and Mortality After Spinal Cord Injury. JAMA Surg. 2024;159 (10):1196-1204. doi: 10.1001/jamasurg.2024.2967. PubMed PMID:39141362 PubMed Central PMC11325240.
  7. Malhotra, AK, Shakil, H, Essa, A, Mathieu, F, Taran, S, Badhiwala, J et al.. Influence of health insurance on withdrawal of life sustaining treatment for patients with isolated traumatic brain injury: a retrospective multi-center observational cohort study. Crit Care. 2024;28 (1):251. doi: 10.1186/s13054-024-05027-6. PubMed PMID:39026325 PubMed Central PMC11264615.
  8. Jaffe, RH, Coyte, PC, Chan, BC, Hancock-Howard, RL, Malhotra, AK, Ladha, K et al.. Traumatic Cervical Spinal Cord Injury and Income and Employment Status. JAMA Netw Open. 2024;7 (6):e2418468. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.18468. PubMed PMID:38916890 PubMed Central PMC11200142.
  9. Shakil, H, Malhotra, AK, Badhiwala, JH, Karthikeyan, V, Essa, A, He, Y et al.. Contemporary trends in the incidence and timing of spinal metastases: A population-based study. Neurooncol Adv. 2024;6 (1):vdae051. doi: 10.1093/noajnl/vdae051. PubMed PMID:38680988 PubMed Central PMC11046986.
  10. Essa, A, Shakil, H, Malhotra, AK, Byrne, JP, Badhiwala, J, Yuan, EY et al.. Quantifying the Association Between Surgical Spine Approach and Tracheostomy Timing After Traumatic Cervical Spinal Cord Injury. Neurosurgery. 2024;95 (2):408-417. doi: 10.1227/neu.0000000000002892. PubMed PMID:38456683 .
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Affiliations & Other Activities

Assistant Professor, Division of Neurosurgery, University of Toronto