Dr. Bharat R. Dave

I have spent 35 years in orthopaedics and nearly three decades building dedicated spine care in India. My contribution is not confined to operative skill. I have tried to create a clinically rigorous, ethically restrained and socially engaged spine-care ecosystem that brings diagnosis, non-operative treatment, surgery, rehabilitation, research, teaching and public education together. I completed MBBS and MS Orthopaedics at B. J. Medical College and Civil Hospital, Ahmedabad, then trained in the United Kingdom and earned M.Ch. Orthopaedics from the University of Liverpool. Fellowships in Germany, Switzerland and Belgium strengthened my expertise in spine surgery, neuro-spine care and endoscopy. In 2024, I completed a PhD on sagittal balance restoration, continuing formal scholarship after decades of clinical practice.

A personal turning point came during my UK training when my mother developed an intradural spinal tumour. I returned to India, leaving my wife in the seventh month of pregnancy, and experienced first-hand the uncertainty families faced when MRI access, specialist teams and public understanding of spinal disease were limited. I resolved to help build in India the coordinated care that patients needed. I began with a modest specialist clinic in Ahmedabad in 1997. In 2004, 1 founded Stavya Spine Hospital & Research Institute and developed it into a dedicated spine centre integrating multidisciplinary assessment, conservative care, surgery where clearly indicated, rehabilitation, long-term follow-up, training and research.

My principle, 'Let the patient earn the surgery,' means that an operation must be justified by diagnosis, symptoms, failed appropriate non-operative care and expected benefit - never by commercial pressure or the mere availability of technology. 'Agree to disagree' encourages open team discussion before difficult decisions. At Stavya, I developed theme-based pathways for cervical disorders, osteoporosis, deformity, trauma, infection, ankylosing spondylitis, degenerative disease, revision surgery and the ageing spine.

Institutional records report more than 310,000 patient evaluations and involvement in more than 33,000 spine surgeries. I value these numbers not as volume alone, but as experience that has generated longitudinal data, audit, research and safer protocols for Indian patients. I have always treated technology as a safety tool, never as a substitute for judgement. I developed IOTSS - Integrated Operation Theatre Spine Suite - to connect three-dimensional imaging, navigation, neuromonitoring, endoscopy, robotics, ultrasonic bone tools, safety checklists and in-house software into a coordinated workflow. Six integrated suites at Stavya support planning. intra-operative verification, documentation, teaching and outcome review. Equally important, my conservative-first approach has helped suitable patients avoid or defer surgery through diagnosis, physiotherapy, osteoporosis care, counselling and monitored follow-up.

Teaching has multiplied my contribution beyond my own hands. I have mentored more than 80 orthopaedic surgeons and neurosurgeons and over 100 physiotherapists, emphasising ethics, communication, documentation, humility and teamwork alongside technical competence. I served for a decade as an honorary spine surgeon at a municipal teaching hospital and have taught physiotherapy students for about twenty years. Through AO Spine, the Spine Association of Gujarat, ASSI, CSRS, MISSAB, BASS and other platforms, I have shared Indian experience nationally and internationally.

Research and communication form another pillar of my work. I have contributed peer-reviewed studies, book chapters, academic books and institutional projects on cervical disease, sagittal balance, osteoporosis, minimally invasive surgery, outcomes and patient communication. Stavya's Institutional Ethics Committee and clinical-data systems support structured review and responsible research. My book 'Stavya Spine Thirty3' received the BOS Book Award at WIROC 2023.

My service extends beyond the operating theatre. Through Spine Satya, culturally rooted educational dramas, osteoporosis campaigns, school scoliosis screening, public lectures, webinars, health camps, charity and concessional care, I have worked to reduce fear, myths, delayed diagnosis and avoidable disability. I have also supported tuberculosis notification and registry efforts initiated by Honorable PM by enrolling more than 300 patients in a year and for that I also received Award from Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation student mentorship through Sharda Kelavani Mandal, and yearly spine-health initiatives for community groups. I have tried not merely to perform surgery, but to leave behind trained professionals, ethical processes, public understanding and an institution capable of serving future generations. My life's work is a durable model: advanced care with restraint, technology with judgement, scale with accountability, and excellence with service.