New Spine Surgery Chief Shapes UCSF’s Status as Global Leader
Rajiv Sethi, MD, PhD, has been appointed chief of the UCSF Division of Orthopaedic Spine Surgery, one of the nation’s premier spine programs. He has also been named co-director of the UCSF Spine Center and UCSF system medical director of Value-Based Musculoskeletal Initiatives. He assumed his new roles on April 1.
Sethi is an internationally recognized authority in complex spinal surgery, with particular expertise in scoliosis and adult spinal deformity. He brings a track record of innovation in spinal care, research, and health system leadership, drawing on his 15 years of experience leading an integrated spine program in Seattle which became a model of clinical care and system improvement adopted by many spine centers around the world.
At UCSF, he will guide multidisciplinary teams of orthopedic surgeons, neurosurgeons, neurologists, physiatrists, oncologists, and pain medicine specialists to provide state-of-the-art, comprehensive care to patients. His selection is intended to continue the growth of the UCSF Spine Center and UCSF system-based musculoskeletal initiatives, building on UCSF’s leadership in spine research and treatment, making it the global destination as a center of excellence.
“Dr. Sethi’s clinical expertise, research leadership, and commitment to mentorship make him exceptionally well-suited to lead our orthopedic spine surgery program,” said C. Benjamin Ma, MD, chair of the UCSF Department of Orthopaedic Surgery. “Under his leadership, the UCSF Spine Center will continue its tradition of excellence while advancing innovative care and research that will shape the future of spinal health.”
Health economics
Sethi joins UCSF from the Virginia Mason Medical Center (VMMC) in Seattle, where he was executive medical director of the Center for Neurosciences and Spine for the past five years. He also served as the leader of VMMC’s Neuroscience Institute from 2015 to 2025 and led its Complex Spine Clinical and Research Fellowship over the past decade, training prominent academic spinal surgeons now practicing in the U.S., Canada, Japan, and Europe. Since 2011, he was an associate clinical professor at the University of Washington and became a full clinical professor there in 2021. Sethi has mentored undergraduate and graduate students in health services and quality, safety, and value research projects for 20 years.
Sethi earned his medical degree at Harvard Medical School and completed his orthopedic surgery residency at Massachusetts General Hospital. After his residency, he came to UCSF for a fellowship in complex spinal surgery/scoliosis and deformity. He also has a PhD in Health Economics from Radboud University in the Netherlands and was a Fulbright Scholar in Public Health.
Sethi’s leadership in academic medicine in the areas of spine quality and safety, value-based care, health economics, and health system innovation have been highlighted in such publications as the Harvard Business Review and Modern Healthcare.
Sethi has published numerous, highly cited papers as first author in peer-reviewed publications, such as JBJS, Spine, JNS Spine, and Spine Deformity Journal. He has been an invited speaker for numerous presentations focused on patient safety, value-based spine care, and health care economics, as well as a keynote speaker for the spine societies of Brazil, Australia, the United Kingdom, India, Japan, Germany, and Canada.
In addition to his clinical leadership, Sethi holds senior leadership and board positions in several distinguished national and international academic spine organizations including the American Spine Registry, S3P-Spine Safety Foundation, Scoliosis Research Society, and the National Spine Health Foundation. He is the current medical and scientific board chair for the National Spine Health Foundation and an executive board council member of the Scoliosis Research Society.
Cyberknife robotic surgery
The UCSF Spine Center is the largest spine center in Northern California and offers comprehensive management of all disorders of the spine, spinal cord, and nerve roots. With highly trained experts in the latest surgical and nonsurgical approaches to spinal care, the center delivers unparalleled therapeutic services, including minimally invasive spinal surgery, awake spine surgery, artificial disk replacement, revision surgery to correct failed spine surgeries, complex spinal reconstructive surgery for deformity, infection, and cancer, as well as other treatment modalities. For spinal tumor surgery, surgeons have access to an advanced Cyberknife robotic system to treat some spinal tumors without incisions or anesthesia. The center’s advanced imaging technologies give patients precise diagnoses and guide personalized treatment plans.
Recently, the UCSF Spine Center was recognized as Center of Excellence with Advanced Spine Surgery Certification from the Joint Commission, an independent nonprofit organization that accredits health care organizations nationwide. The center earned the certification for the high standards of care UCSF offers to patients throughout Northern California. UCSF is one of only five hospitals in California and 46 nationwide with this designation.
About UCSF Health: UCSF Health is recognized worldwide for its innovative patient care, reflecting the latest medical knowledge, advanced technologies and pioneering research. It includes the flagship UCSF Medical Center, which is a highly-ranked hospital, as well as UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals, with campuses in San Francisco and Oakland; two community hospitals, UCSF Health Stanyan and UCSF Health Hyde; Langley Porter Psychiatric Hospital; UCSF Benioff Children’s Physicians; and the UCSF Faculty Practice. These hospitals serve as the academic medical center of the University of California, San Francisco, which is world-renowned for its graduate-level health sciences education and biomedical research. UCSF Health has affiliations with hospitals and health organizations throughout the Bay Area. Visit www.ucsfhealth.org. Follow UCSF Health on Facebook or on Twitter.