Dror Paley is the founder and Director of the Paley Institute in West Palm Beach, Florida, USA. Prior to that he was the founder Director of the Rubin Institute for Advanced Orthopedics, and the Director of the International Center for Limb Lengthening (ICLL) at Sinai Hospital of Baltimore from 2001-2009. He is internationally recognized for his expertise in limb lengthening and reconstruction. Dr. Paley trained under the guidance of Professor Ilizarov of Russia (Ilizarov method) and Professor di Bastiani of Italy (Orthofix method). In 1986, he introduced the Ilizarov method to the United States and Canada. He obtained subspecialty fellowship training over the course of three years in Pediatric Orthopedics, Hand Surgery, Trauma Surgery and Limb Lengthening and External Fixation Surgery. Dr. Paley has won several awards, including a Gubernatorial Citation for Outstanding Contributions in Orthopedic surgery in 1990 by the Governor of Maryland and the Pauwel’s Medal in Clinical Biomechanics in 1997 by the German-Speaking Countries Orthopedic Association. He has been awarded the best paper/poster award by SICOT, AAOS, POSNA and AORS. His book was also awarded the best-illustrated medical textbook in 2003. He was recently awarded Health Professional of the Year by the Chamber of Commerce of the Palm Beaches and was named Health Hero of the Year by the Palm Beach Medical Society. He has published over 130 articles in the peer-reviewed literature and has authored and edited 5 books and 40 book chapters.

Peter Newton is a pediatric orthopedic surgeon who specializes in the care of children and adolescents with spinal deformities. He is the chief of Orthopedics at the Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego California, USA and is also a clinical professor in the department of Orthopedic Surgery at the University of California, San Diego, USA. He has around 200 peer-reviewed publications in journals and numerous book chapters to his credit. He is a past-President of the Pediatric Orthopedic Society of North America and currently Vice-President of the Scoliosis Research Society. His clinical interests have been focused on novel treatments for scoliosis including: thoracoscopy in anterior thoracic spinal surgery, posterior methods designed to maximize the 3-dimensional correction of scoliosis, as well as fusionless methods of spinal growth modulation. He leads the well-recognized Harms Study Group in their effort to produce influential multicenter scoliosis research and is president of the foundation, Setting Scoliosis Straight. In addition to clinical outcomes research, his laboratory has been involved in the basic science of spinal growth, biomechanical studies related to implants and 3-dimensional imaging methods and quality improvement.

Peter promises to regale the audience of POSICON 2019 with his masterful talks on early onset scoliosis and adolescent idiopathic scoliosis, besides participating in a showdown on spinal instrumentation during the Janus sessions of POSICON 2019. Spine surgeons ….miss this at your own risk!