Amanda Sacino, MD, PhD, FCNS
Neurosurgeon, Fellowship-Trained in Degenerative Spinal conditions, Spine Oncology, Minimally-Invasive Spine Surgery

​​Background: I was born at Holy Cross Hospital in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and raised in Lighthouse Point, Florida. God blessed me with a wonderful Greek/Italian family and childhood. While studying at Boston University, I completed my honors research thesis related to movement disorders in the Department of Neurosurgery at Massachusetts General Hospital. At the University of Florida, I worked in the Movement Disorders Center to evaluate patients for deep brain stimulation. My PhD work was completed in the Center for Translational Research in Neurodegenerative Disease and focused on proteinopathies, mainly Parkinson's Disease. Part of my work was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences under Nobel Prize Winner, Dr. Stanley Prusiner. During the course of my neurosurgical training at Johns Hopkins Hospital, I received thorough experience in cranial, spine, and peripheral nerve surgery. I also was fortunate enough to complete two dedicated spine fellowships at Johns Hopkins Hospital/Sibley Memorial Hospital and Swedish Neuroscience Institute. My spine training has been extensive covering degenerative diseases, congenital diseases, deformity, oncology, and trauma.  I also participated in the Spine Tumor Board for 5 years at Johns Hopkins Hospital. I specialize in providing minimally invasive approaches to the spine to help my patients find relief and get back to their lives sooner. While at Johns Hopkins, I’ve also been fortunate enough to be trained at the forefront of all current intra-operative navigation technologies including augmented reality and robotics. In particular, I trained under the inventor of the Globus ExcelsiusGPS robot, Dr. Nicholas Theodore, Director of Neurosurgical Spine Program at Johns Hopkins Hospital. I was at the first robotic case at Johns Hopkins Hospital with him when I was a second year resident and for the past five years, I have been working with the robot doing both spine and cranial cases as well as contributing to its advancement through publication and lectures. Additionally, I was in the first robotic placement of deep brain stimulation leads at Johns Hopkins Hospital for patients with Parkinson's Disease as well as tremor. My goal is to use this extensive neurosurgical expertise in minimally invasive and robotic surgery from Johns Hopkins to help my patients.

 

Surgical Philosophy: “Less is more.” If there is a patient with a tumor or an unstable fracture or a neurologic deficit (ie weakness, incontinence) with an identifiable anatomic cause then that may require an upfront surgical solution; however, dealing with pain is a little more nuanced. I favor trying conservative measures first and if the patient isn’t getting significant improvement then we move onto a surgical option. With surgery, I try to pinpoint the cause of the patient’s pain and use minimally invasive techniques to minimize the disruption to the surrounding tissues. Ideally, I want my patients up and walking the day of surgery. Hippocrates once said, “Walking is man’s best medicine,” and I couldn’t agree more. The whole point of the surgery is to help you find relief so that we can get you back to your life sooner.

 

What do I value? I value quality. Quality of the care I provide for my patients, quality for the type of surgery I provide for my patients, and the quality of life I can help my patients to regain. One of the things I learned during my time at Johns Hopkins is that quality comes from a deep commitment in my work to help take care of another human being. Everything we do matters, which is why I record and am transparent about my outcomes to help ensure that I provide the highest quality of care.

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See Conditions We Treat to see links to Dr. Sacino's lectures and research.

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