About Us

A fellowship-trained, board-certified spine surgeon, Dr. Jian Shen is a world-renowned leader in endoscopic spine surgery and disc regeneration.

Dr. Shen has extensive experience in treating a full spectrum of spine conditions, and has performed over 6,000 minimally invasive spine surgeries, including more than 5,000 endoscopic surgeries of the lumbar, cervical, and thoracic spine. In fact, Dr. Shen has performed more endoscopic spine surgeries than any other neurosurgeon in the Western Hemisphere. In recognition of his skill, Dr. Shen won the Parviz Kambin Award in 2019, the most prestigious award there is in endoscopic spine surgery.

In addition, Dr. Shen has earned more than 100 five-star patient reviews on Healthgrades.com, the leading online resource for comprehensive information about physicians and hospitals.

 Dr. Uel  J. Alexis, M.D. is a board certified anesthesiologist and a specialist  in minimally invasive spine and pain procedures. He graduated from The  Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. While there, he  performed graduate level research with the founder and director of the  Johns Hopkins Neuroscience Department. Upon graduation, he enrolled in  medical school at the University of Texas in San Antonio. After medical  school he completed his internship in surgery and his residency in  anesthesiology at The Mount Sinai Medical Center, in New York City. He  mastered ultrasound-guided peripheral nerve blocks for orthopedic  surgeries on shoulders, hips, knees and the upper extremity. Dr. Alexis  completed his medical training with an Invasive Pain Management  Fellowship at The Mount Sinai Hospital, where he served as the Chief  Administrative Fellow.

  Dr. Latrice A. Akuamoah, M.D., M.P.H is originally from Chicago. She is a board-certified anesthesiologist and pain management physician at The Spine and Pain Institute of New York. 

 She graduated from The University of Rochester with a Bachelor of Science in molecular genetics prior to earning her Medical Degree and Master of Public Health at Tulane University School of Medicine. She completed her residency in anesthesiology at The Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City followed by a fellowship in interventional pain management at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Dr. Akuamoah uses an evidence-based multimodal approach often recommending behavioral therapy, physical therapy, medications, and cutting edge minimally invasive procedures, when necessary. She takes the time to carefully listen to her patients, so that she can help them reach their goals. She is committed to improving her patients’ quality of life, helping them return to work and other activities that they enjoy. She has a particular interest in helping historically undertreated groups including women and people of color. 

  Dr. Ajax Yang is a board-certified physician in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R) with subspecialty training in Pain Medicine. Prior to becoming a physician, Dr. Yang practiced as a physical therapist at the University of California Los Angeles Medical Center. 

 Dr. Yang embarked on his Pain Medicine fellowship training at The Spine and Pain Institute of New York. He then continued to expand his training with cutting-edge cancer and noncancer interventional pain medicine armamentarium at the Weill Cornell Tri-Institutional fellowship; consisting of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York-Presbyterian Hospital, and Hospital for Special Surgery. With his diverse training background in rehabilitation, musculoskeletal, and complex pain, he is a contributing author in numerous pain medicine textbooks, peer-reviewed journals, and other scientific publications. 

 Dr. Robert Otterbeck is a board-certified anesthesiologist and specialist in Pain Medicine. He is a native New Yorker, born and raised on Staten Island. He graduated with a doctor of medicine degree from the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York. 

 Throughout his training in anesthesiology and pain medicine, he rotated through the various NYU campuses learning from experts in various fields including anesthesiology, maxillofacial surgery, neurosurgery, neurology, psychiatry, physical medicine and rehabilitation, and radiology to create a multi-modal, comprehensive pain management plan to address each patient individually to achieve optimal clinical outcomes. With this approach – which is often multidisciplinary — he establishes a diagnosis and uses various techniques such as physical therapy, medication management, lifestyle changes, and, if required, minimally invasive interventional techniques to address pain.