Professor Greg Cunningham

Professor Cunningham is a spinal surgeon with unique experience having completed both orthopaedic and neurosurgery spinal fellowship training. He is experienced in treating all manner of spinal problems including the most complex or those requiring a second opinion.

Greg has a special interest in surgery of the cervical spine, ‘key-hole’ or endoscopic spine surgery and the treatment of athletes’ spinal conditions to return them to peak performance.

Greg is passionate about delivering a tailored approach to your spinal care. With his unique training he is able to offer treatments that promote a rapid recovery and return to your activities. He utilises some of the most advanced techniques in spinal surgery available worldwide. These include motion preserving disc replacements, minimal access or “key-hole” surgery and robotic assisted 3D navigated surgery. Greg has been on the forefront of advancements in spinal technology, this includes being a part of the small team of surgeons to first introduce robotic spinal surgery in the UK and then again developing the use of this technology to Perth.

Having grown up in Western Australia and studied medicine at the University of Western Australia, Greg understands the importance of mobility and comfort to make the most of an active lifestyle in WA.

Greg first became a specialist orthopaedic surgeon, spending 7 years training across Queensland and Western Australia. He then worked as a specialist orthopaedic surgeon in Western Australia treating all manner of orthopaedic conditions including hip and knee arthritis with joint replacements, shoulder and upper limb conditions such as rotator cuff tears and carpal tunnel compression. It is his broad training and experience that allows him to consider all conditions that may affect your care.

After practicing as a general orthopaedic surgeon, Greg spent 2 years abroad to undertake international sub-specialty neurosurgical and orthopaedic fellowship training in spinal surgery at some of the world’s most renowned centres. This included completing fellowship training at:

  1. Oxford University Hospital, focusing on complex paediatric spinal care and minimally invasive degenerative disc disease treatment.
  2. The Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, London, the largest spinal deformity treatment unit in Europe managing the most complex spinal conditions referred from around Europe including international level athletes.
  3. The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, Queen Square London, one of the largest dedicated neurosurgical hospitals in Europe catering for the most complex neurosurgical patients and offering motion preserving fusionless surgery. Along with, this Greg has also undertaken focused training in New York and Switzerland to be able to deliver world class care in Western Australia

Greg was previously the director of spinal surgery at Fiona Stanley Hospital Orthopaedic Department. Although no longer treating patients in public hospitals, Greg is heavily involved in surgical training and teaching, he currently supervises and coordinates the formal spinal surgery training of all Western Australian orthopaedic surgery trainees along with training international neurosurgical and orthopaedic surgeons for advanced fellowship training in spinal surgery at the NeuroSpine Institute.

Greg is the Head of Department for Spinal and Neurosurgery at St John of God Murdoch hospital.

Greg has lectured in spinal and orthopaedic surgery at the three medical schools in Western Australia and has an adjunct appointment as Clinical Professor at Curtin University where he has an ongoing involvement in many research projects that aim to improve the treatment of spinal conditions. He has worked with and developed links with research departments across the world including Oxford University Hospital, University College London, and The University of Western Australia. Patients under the care of Greg may be offered to take part in a trial or participate in the long-term monitoring of spinal health.

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Spine Surgeon

MBBS FRACS FAOrthA

Accredited at the following health care facilities:

  • St John of God Hospital Subiaco*
  • Hollywood Private Hospital*
  • St John of God Hospital Murdoch*
  • Mount Hospital, Perth
  • St John of God Carine Specialist Centre

*currently operates here

Publications

2025

  • Celenza, A., Gaff, J., Pabbruwe, M., Amaya, J., Amlani, A., Berg, A., Häckel, S., Kern, M., Miles, A., Taylor, P., & Cunningham, G. (2025). The Total Disc Replacement Osteolysis Grading Scale – a simple, reliable and quantifiable tool for assessing, managing and reporting osteolysis after cervical total disc replacement. European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society, 10.1007/s00586-025-09128-w. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00586-025-09128-w
  • Häckel, S., Gaff, J., Celenza, A., Cunningham, G., Kern, M., Taylor, P., & Miles, A. (2025). High Fusion Rates with Structured Titanium TLIF Cages: A Retrospective 1-Year Study with and Without Adjacent Level Dynamic Stabilization. Surgeries, 6(3), 52. https://doi.org/10.3390/surgeries6030052

European Spine Journal

The Total Disc Replacement Osteolysis Grading Scale – a simple, reliable and quantifiable tool for assessing, managing and reporting osteolysis after cervical total disc replacement.

A. Celenza, J. Gaff, M. Pabbruwe, J. Amaya, A. Amlani, A. Berg, S Häckel, M. Kern, P. Taylor, A. Miles, G. Cunningham. July 2025

Surgeries

High Fusion Rates with Structured Titanium TLIF Cages: A Retrospective 1-Year Study with and Without Adjacent Level Dynamic Stabilization

Häckel, S.; Gaff, J.; Celenza, A.; Cunningham, G.; Kern, M.; Taylor, P.; Miles, A. June 2025

Brain and Spine

Osteolysis After Cervical Disc Arthroplasty: Prevalence, Risk Factors, and Validation of a Novel CT-Based Grading Scale

J. Gaff, S. Häckel, A. Celenza, M. Pabbruwe, J. Amaya, A. Amlani, A. Berg, M. Kern, P. Taylor, A. Miles, G. Cunningham. January 2025

WA-AOA 53nd Annual Scientific Meeting– State Meeting. August 2024

Podium Presentations (Senior Author):

  1. M6-L vs M6-C: Are we facing the same concerns?
  2. Comparison of outcomes following endoscopic, open or mini-open discectomy for foraminal and extraforaminal lumbar disc herniation: a prospective analysis
  3. A comparison of the patient-reported outcomes following anterior cervical discectomy with fusion and cervical total disc replacement with heterotrophic ossification.
  4. Timely surgery, better recovery? Evidence from a workers’ compensation cohort following cervical disc pathologies

North American Spine Society (NASSi Taiwan) – International Meeting

Invited Guest Speaker

  1. Multilevel 360 degree Lumbosacral Fusion utilizing A Novel Minimally Invasive Multi-incision Technique
  2. CIRQ Spinal Robotic Surgery: Advanced Techniques

Spine Society of Australia- National Meeting 2025

Invited Guest Speaker:

Spinal Surgery Robotics and Intraoperative Navigation: Experience and Advanced Techniques

Spine Society of Australia- National Meeting 2025

Podium Presentations (Senior Author)

  1. Third time’s a charm: fusion or discectomy for a third disc prolapse
  2. Exploring effectiveness of mini-open/tubular and open discectomies to treat foraminal and extraforaminal disc prolapse
  3. Reliability of an osteolysis grading scale for cervical total disc replacements and the utility of X-ray and CT radiographic imaging to detect osteolysis
  4. A comparison of spinal fusion and lordosis correction in older adults – is there a better approach?
  5. A report on long-term patient-reported and radiographic outcomes with the M6-L

SpineArt APAC Summit (Singapore) – International Meeting Nov 2024

Invited guest speaker

  1. 360° Consideration in the Surgical Treatment of Lumbar Degenerative Spinal Conditions: Anterior and Lateral Approaches
  2. Complications and Management: Failed Cervical TDR with Bone Loss
  3. Anterior Lumbar Fusion: Complex Clinical Case Discussions

RANZCR – National Scientific Meeting Oct 2024

Invited guest speaker

Whole Body Weight Bearing Images. What does a surgeon want from Radiology

WA-AOA 52nd Annual Scientific Meeting– State Meeting. August 2024

Podium Presentations (Senior Author):

  1. A Novel Minimally Invasive Sacroiliac Joint Fusion Technique – Surgical Technique and Case Series (Senior Author)
  2. Radiographic, patient-reported outcomes and explant analyses following cervical total disc replacement with the M6-C (Senior Author)
  3. Applying Lean Principles to introduce a new surgical technique to a hospital with an analysis of the surgeon and hospital learning curve: spinal endoscopy
  4. Feasibility of T2*Weighted Imaging in identifying tissue variations in lumbar herniated discs, as classified in the Michigan State University (MSU) Classification system (Senior Author)
  5. A novel technique for bone deformity correction using a modified PEEK cage (Senior Author)
  6. Robotic assisted pedicle screw placement in spinal surgery: A safety analysis and technical note from the first patients treated in WA (Senior Author)

Asia Spine (Taiwan) – International Meeting. July 2024

Invited guest speaker

  1. Multi-Level Lumbar to Sacrum Fusion: A Novel Minimally Invasive Multi-Incision Anterior Oblique Technique
  2. Cirq Robotics and LoopX Imaging for Spine Surgery

European Spine Journal 2024

Heterotopic ossification, osteolysis and implant failure following cervical total disc replacement with the M6-C™️ artificial disc. March. 2024

Häckel S, Gaff J, Pabbruwe M, Celenza A, Kern M, Taylor P, Miles A, Cunningham G.

Spine Society of Australia- National Meeting 2024

Invited guest speaker

Endoscopic spine surgery vs open surgery: Discussing the options for spine surgery in 2024

Spine Society of Australia- National Meeting 2024

Podium Presentation

  1. A report of osteolysis severity and implant failure associated with the M6-C™️ implant in a large cohort and the patient and surgical outcomes following device retrieval.
  2. Patient reported outcomes of cervical and lumbar fusion surgery for patients with workers compensation claims do not differ to privately insured patients (Senior Author)

Deformity Down Under (Sydney) – International Meeting 2024

Invited guest speaker and session chair

Classifying osteolysis in cervical disc replacement

Spine Society of Australia- National Meeting Spine Week 2023

Podium Presentation

  1. Surgical, radiographic and patient reported outcomes following multilevel lumbosacral fusion utilizing a novel minimally invasive multi-incision technique
  2. A hybrid atlantoaxial fusion technique utilizing a transarticular and C1 lateral mass screw technique: Outcomes and finite element analyses

Spine Society of Australia- National Meeting Spine Week 2023

The Rob Johnston Award: Podium Presentation (Senior Author)

First long-term follow-up results on wear induced osteolysis following cervical total disc replacement using the M6-C™️ artificial cervical disc

Brain and Spine 2023

Häckel S, Gaff J, Kern M, Taylor P, Miles A, Cunningham G.

Long-term follow up of wear related osteolysis in cervical total disc replacement with the M6-C™️ artificial cervical disc. January 2023

Annals of 3D Printed Medicine 2021

A Ribera-Navarro, A Gibson, R Shenoy, G Cunningham, V Vakharia, , M Moazen, D Kalaskar

Critical analysis for a safe design of 3D printed Patient-Specific Surgical Guides (PSSG) for pedicle screw insertion in spinal deformities. July 2021

Journal of 3D Printing in Medicine 2021

A Ribera-Navarro,  R Shenoy, G Cunningham, V Vakharia, A Gibson, M Moazen, D Kalaskar

Patient-specific 3D-printed surgical guides for pedicle screw insertion: comparison of different guide design approaches. July 2021

World Neurosurgery 2020

Wright D, Kieser D, Cunningham G, et al

Halo Femoral Traction for 1 Week Between Staged Anterior and Posterior Fusion Surgeries for Severe Adolescent Scoliosis Is Effective and Safe. June 2020

European Spine Journal 2020

Cunningham G, Wright D, Nnadi C

Smartphone application technique for localising magnetically controlled growth rod actuators: the Oxford Magnetic Counter App Technique (TOMCAT). May 2020

Journal of Spine and Neurosurgery 2020

Cunningham G, Wright D, Nnadi C, Kieser D

Patient Outcome Questionnaires in the British Spine Registry: Why are Response Rates Low and Which Patients Groups are responding? February 2020

Australian and New Zealand Journal of Surgery 2020

Singara Z, Cunningham G, Dillon D, Woodland P, Baddour E

Proximal Junctional Kyphosis and Rates of Fusion Following Posterior Instrumentation and Spinal Fusion for Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis. Accepted awaiting publication Jan 2020

International Journal of Spinal Surgery 2019

Kieser D, Cunningham G, Nnadi C

The value of a modified Wiltse approach for deformity correction in neuromuscular scoliosis. Accepted awaiting publication May 2019

British association of spinal surgeons (BASS) annual scientific meeting Apr 2019

Poster Presentation

Wright D, Cunningham G, Kieser D, Nnadi C

Patient compliance with the British spinal registry patient outcome questionnaires.

The Physician and Sportsmedicine 2017

Cunningham G, Martineau PA, Gohil S. The drill wobble effect: oversizing the femoral tunnel during ACL reconstruction. The Physician and Sportsmedicine. 2017. Dec 2.

Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery 2016

Wang A, Doyle T, Cunningham G, Brutty M, Campbell P, Bharat C, Ackland T. Isokinetic shoulder strength correlates with level of sports participation and functional activity after reverse total shoulder arthroplasty. Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery. 2016 Apr 8.

Australian Orthopaedic Association Annual Scientific Meeting 2015

Podium Presentation

Isokinetic shoulder strength influences participation in sports and recreation after reverse total shoulder arthroplasty

Western Australian – AOA 44th Annual Scientific Meeting 2015

Podium Presentation:

Oversizing the Femoral Tunnel During ACL Reconstruction

Western Australian – AOA 43rd Annual Scientific Meeting August 2014

Podium Presentation

Isokinetic Strength Determines Return to Sport and Recreation Following Reverse Total Shoulder Arthroplasty

Journal of Orthopaedic Research and Reviews 2013

Cunningham G, Riciardo B. Synovial fluid sedimentation in the immobile patient: a commentary on modern septic arthritis and the addition of a new variable confounding diagnosis. Orthopaedic research and reviews. 2013 Jan 5:1-4

Australian and New Zealand Journal of Surgery 2011

Cunningham G, Chenik D, Zellweger R. Factors influencing motorcycle crash victim outcomes: a prospective study. ANZ journal of surgery. 2012 Jul 1;82(7-8):551-4.

WA-AOA 40th Annual Scientific Meeting August 2011

Podium Presentation

Early Failure of HA-coated DePuy LCS Femoral Components

American College of Surgeons 96th Annual Clinical Congress July 2011

Poster Presentation

Rider vs. Road: A Multifactorial Study on the Demographics of Motorcycle Accident Victims with Risk Factor Analysis

Second International Trauma Conference – July 2010

Podium Presentation

Beyond the Helmet: Factors Influencing Patient Outcomes in Motorcycle Accidents