Our Research

Our research is making a meaningful impact on spinal healthcare through research and innovation. Our dynamic research team is dedicated to advancing the understanding and treatment of neurospinal conditions.

Our Purpose

Back pain and neck pain is associated with poor health-related quality of life and distress and is a leading cause of disability worldwide. Many spine conditions can be successfully managed with conservative treatments however, some patients do not improve and may benefit from surgery. Furthermore, some spinal conditions can only be managed successfully with surgical intervention. Spine surgery aims to alleviate symptoms, improve function, and prevent further deterioration or complications. Common spinal procedures include decompressive surgery, spinal fusion, and artificial disc replacement.

Benefits from surgical treatment varies from person-to-person, even when individuals have the same diagnosis and / or same surgery.

Further research is needed to better understand why this happens and to continually improve surgical treatments and patient outcomes.

The Neurospine Institute has established a clinical registry called ‘The SPINE Registry’ to monitor clinical and patient-reported outcomes following spine surgery. The SPINE Registry includes ‘Patient-reported outcome measures’ (PROMs) which are short questionnaires that collect information about pain, day-to-day function and quality of life from the patient’s perspective. These PROMs allow us to understand treatment outcomes from a patient’s point of view and drive patient-centred care.

The SPINE Registry aims to:

Identify the most effective surgical techniques

Identify patients most likely to benefit from surgery

Identify which patients are at risk of complications and introduce suitable strategies to prevent complications

Evaluate care against best practice standards and evidence-based medicine

Meet the Team:

Professor Greg Cunningham

Research Director
View publications
Professor Greg Cunningham
Dr Jessica Gaff

Research Scientist
View publications
Dr Jessica Gaff
Dr Audrey Chan

Research Scientist
View publications
Dr Audrey Chan
Alana Celenza

Research Assistant
View publications
Alana Celenza
Dr Imran Narooni

Surgical Fellow

Dr Imran Narooni

How to Get Involved

Our patients are able to and are invited to participate in the SPINE Registry.

Patients

Participate – All patients who are over the age of 18 years, have surgical treatment planned for their spine-related condition and are able to provide informed consent are invited to participate in The SPINE Registry. If you would like further information about The SPINE Registry please contact our research team or download our flyer below.

Donate – Your generous donations to Neurospine Foundation allow us to carry out important medical research which will lead to improvements in the treatment of spine-related conditions and patient care here in Perth, nationally and internationally.

Donate Now

Download Flyer

Students

Neurospine Foundation and Neurospine Institute have a range of exciting projects which focus on improving care for patients with spine-related conditions. We currently have research projects available in the following fields:

Surgical
Computational / mechanical engineering
Physiotherapy
Biomedical
Public health and epidemiology
Pain Sciences

Contact the research team to discuss project opportunities:

Email the Research Team

Call Us

Cervical Disc Replacements: The Long-term Evidence

New article written by our team for Medical Forum. Written by Associate Professor Greg Cunningham, Dr Paul Taylor and Dr Gareth Dobsonon Published April 24, 2025
2024 AO Spine Global Spine Congress Abstract Acceptances

22 February 2024 Our Neurospine Foundation Research Team recently submitted 7 abstracts to the 2024 AO Spine Global Spine Congress (GSC) in Bangkok Thailand scheduled for the 15-18th of May 2024. We are pleased to announce that all 7 abstracts were accepted for a combination of oral presentations, rapid fire presentations and e-posters. For the 15th annual year, […]
Key Hole Spinal Surgery and Faster Recovery for Sciatica Sufferers

The prospect of spinal surgery has long sent shockwaves of fear and trepidation through patients and referring practitioners. Invasive surgery, long recovery times and the concern about needing repeated procedures in the future come to mind. Key messages Safely visualising delicate neural structures often meant extensive surgery. In recent years, advancements in optical and camera […]
AO Spine National Research Grant Awarded to Ms Alana Celenza

Neurospine Institute’s Research Assistant, Ms Alana Celenza, has been awarded the AO Spine National Research Grant. This grant is an $8,500 grant aimed to provide start-up funding for new spinal research projects for early and mid-career investigators. Ms Celenza is early in her research career having completed her Bachelor of Science in Molecular Genetics and […]
Dr Jessica Gaff Receives AO Spine Start Up Research Grant

Dr Jessica Gaff, Neurospine Institute’s Research Scientist has been awarded a $40,000 research grant from the AO Spine Research Commission. The AO Foundation’s clinical division awards this grant specifically to provide an opportunity to support young clinicians and scientists in the field of spine research to help promote clinical and translational research in the early part of […]
SpineWeek 2023 Presentations & Award Recipient – Dr Sonja Haeckel

Our team at Neurospine Insitute has just returned from an incredible SpineWeek2023 conference in Melbourne. This conference is an international event that brought together multiple prestigious spine societies to share in: Not only did our team win an award, our Neurospine Foundation Research team submitted a total of 6 abstracts to the conference and were […]
NEW Spine Surgeon, Dr Greg Cunningham joins Neurospine Institute

Spine Surgeon, Dr Greg Cunningham has recently returned to Perth full time after completing orthopaedic and neurosurgery spinal fellowships in the United Kingdom. Greg commences in private practice at Neurospine Institute in June 2020. Greg has a special interest in surgery of the cervical spine and the treatment of athletes spinal conditions to return them […]
Improving Patient Outcomes Through Research and Education

Neurospine Institute in 2019 established a charity whose principal purposes and objectives are to promote improvement in the neurosurgical and orthopaedic spine care in Australia and internationally, by establishing and developing a centre of excellence in neurosurgical and orthopaedic spine care research and in its application. For further information email info@nsiwa.com.au

View Research News

Donate to the Neurospine Foundation

Your generous donations to Neurospine Foundation allow us to carry out important medical research which will lead to improvements in the treatment of spine-related conditions and to patient care here in Perth, nationally and internationally.

Donate today