Dr. Gary K. Michelson is noted as the single most prolific surgeon inventor in any medical specialty worldwide. As a board certified, orthopedic spinal surgeon, he has dedicated his life to creating more effective treatments for the most debilitating of spinal disorders and to the relief of spinal pain. Educated at Temple University and Hahnemann Medical College, he then underwent fellowship training in a joint program between Baylor University and the University of Texas. Dr. Michelson was a practicing spinal surgeon for over 25 years and has more than 110 research papers and publications to his credit.
Dr. Michelson was motivated by the plight of his grandmother, a tennis champion in her youth, who was later crippled by neurogenic spinal degeneration. Dissatisfied with the available treatments, he invented comprehensive spinal surgical systems including integrated instruments, operative methods and medical implants. These have become the foundation for many of the modern surgical treatments used for major spinal disorders and Michelson devices have been implanted globally in hundreds of thousands of patients.
Dr. Michelson's inventions are also central to many other spinal surgery systems and devices. Dr. Michelson has over 900 issued or pending patents worldwide related to instruments, operative procedures, and medical devices. In 2005 Michelson assigned ownership of much of his spine-related intellectual property to Medtronic for a price in excess of $1 billion, catapulting him onto the Forbes 400 where he has since remained.
