Safdar Khan, M.D.
Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery
Vice Chair for Surgical Innovation
To see if Safdar Khan is accepting new patients, or for assistance finding a UC Davis doctor, please call 800-2-UCDAVIS (800-282-3284).
Specialties
Adult and Pediatric Spinal Surgery
Spine Surgery
Orthopaedic Surgery - Spinal Disorders
Orthopaedic Surgery - Pediatric Orthopaedic Surgery
Department
Locations and Contact
Phone: 916-734-7463
Fax: 916-734-1770
Additional Numbers
Physician Referrals
Philosophy of Care
My patient care philosophy is to treat each patient as I would treat a member of my own family. In circumstances where surgery is needed, it's already a very difficult and tense time for people. I pride myself in treating each patient as an individual. What might work for one patient might not work for everyone, so part of my job is to develop a treatment plan that's specific to each person's condition. That might include non-operative care or possibly surgery.
Clinical Interests
Dr Khan is the author of over 250 research publications, over 18 book chapters and has presented his research numerous times both nationally and internationally. Some of his accolades include "Intern of the Year" awarded by the Department of Neurosurgery at UC Davis; Best Research Paper Award for his work on adipokines from the California Orthopaedic Association (COA) as well as the Orthopaedic Research and Education Foundation (OREF). His research has also been recognized as best paper awards in national and international meetings (see below). He has been invited to give lectures on his research as well as clinical topics nationally and internationally.
He is on numerous national committees including the Spine Instructional Course Committee of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS); North American Spine Society (NASS) Biologics Section; 21st Century Grants Committee for the Cervical Spine Research Society (CSRS); and the Program Committee for the Lumbar Spine Research Society (LSRS). He is Section Editor of the Clinical Spine Surgery Journal and a member of the International Society for the Advancement of Spine Surgery Research Board. He has received grant support from OREF, Scoliosis Research Society (SRS) and Orthopaedic Trauma Association (OTA). He is currently a member of international and national spine societies such as AAOS, CSRS, NASS, ISASS, LSRS and OOS.
Research/Academic Interests
Dr Khan believes that by combining the tenets of research, teaching and education to provide excellent patient care, he is living UC Davis Medical Center's mission to provide individualized medicine for everyone. His research interest areas include:
- biologic manipulation and reprogramming of cytokines and cells responsible for disc regeneration and spinal fusion
- the economic aspects of health care utilization for spinal surgery
- augmented reality in orthopaedics surgery
- functional outcomes after spinal surgery.
Division
Spinal Deformities
Center/Program Affiliation
Undergraduate School
FSc, Government College, Lahore, Pakistan, 1993
Medical School
M.D., Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan, 1998
Other School
Research Fellowship, Spine Research, Division of Spine Surgery, The Hospital for Special Surgery, New York, NY, 1998-2004
Internship
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, UC Davis, Sacramento, CA, 2004-2010
Residency
Research Scholar, UC Davis, Sacramento, CA, 2005-2010
Fellowship
Fellowship, Pediatric Spine, Shriners Hospital, Chicago, IL, 2011
Fellowship
Adult and Pediatric Spine, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL, 2010-2011
- Best Paper at North American Spine Society (NASS) 2018 Annual Meeting - Healthcare Utilization and Costs in the two years prior to a single-level posterior lumbar fusion: What happens before surgery?,
- Value in Spine Care Award at North American Spine Society (NASS) 2018 Annual Meeting -Healthcare Utilization and Costs in the two years prior to a single-level posterior lumbar fusion: What happens before surgery?,
- Best Paper at Lumbar Spine Research Society (LSRS) 2019 Meeting - Declining Trend in Osteoporosis Management and Screening Following Vertebral Compression Fractures,
- Best Poster at the International Society for the Advancement of Spine Surgery (ISASS) 2019 Meeting -The Modified 5-item Frailty Index - A concise tool for predicting post-operative morbidity following Elective 1-to-2 level posterior lumbar fusions,
- Best Paper at North American Spine Society (NASS) 2019 Annual Meeting - Are current DRG-based bundled payment models for lumbar fusions risk adjusting adequately?,
- Best Paper at North American Spine Society (NASS) 2019 Annual Meeting -Posterior Cervical Fusion for Degenerative Cervical Pathology vs. Fracture: Implications for a bundled payment model,
- Best Paper at North American Spine Society (NASS) 2019 Annual Meeting - Elective ACDFs at Physician-Owned Hospitals,
- Value in Spine Care Award at North American Spine Society (NASS) 2019 Annual Meeting - Are current DRG-based bundled payment models for lumbar fusions risk adjusting adequately?,
- Value in Spine Care Award at North American Spine Society (NASS) 2019 Annual Meeting - Elective ACDFs at Physician-Owned Hospitals,
- The Spine Journal 2019 Outstanding Paper for Value Award - Are current DRG-based bundled payment models for lumbar fusions risk adjusting adequately?,
- Society of Lateral Access of Surgery (SOLAS) 2019 Young Investigator Award - Costs associated with a 90-day Episode of Care following a Single-Level Anterior Lumbar Interbody Fusion (ALIF),
- Best Paper (1st Place) Award at 2019 Musculoskeletal Tumor Society (MSTS) Annual Meeting - Has the Affordable Care Act Been Associated with Increased Insurance Coverage and Early-stage Diagnoses of Bone and Soft-tissue Sarcomas in Adults?,
- Best Paper at American Society for Surgery of the Hand (ASSH) 2020 Annual Meeting - “Declining Trend in Anti- Osteoporosis Treatment, Despite a Rise in DEXA Screening Following Sentinel Distal Radius Fractures”,
- Best Paper at North American Spine Society (NASS) 2020 Annual Meeting - “Fusion for Fracture Has No Place in a Lumbar Fusion Bundled Payment Model”,
- Value in Spine Care Award at North American Spine Society (NASS) 2020 Annual Meeting - “Fusion for Fracture Has No Place in a Lumbar Fusion Bundled Payment Model”,
- Lumbar Spine Research Society (LSRS) Research Fellow Award - April 2017 for work on bundled-payments in spine surgery,
- International Society for Study of the Lumbar Spine (ISSLS) Young Investigator Travel Award - May 2018 for work on opioid usage and bundled-payments in spine surgery,
- Best Basic Science Paper at International Society for Advancement of Spine Surgery (ISASS) Annual Meeting - April 2017 “The temporal expression of adipokines during spinal fusion”,
Koutsogiannis P, Khan S, Phillips F, Qureshi S, Dowling TJ, Song J, Virk S. A cross-sectional analysis of 284 complications for lumbar disc replacements from medical device reports maintained by the United States Food and Drug Administration. Spine J. 2022 Feb;22(2):278-285.
Malik AT, Jain N, Scharschmidt TJ, Glassman AH, Khan SN. Primary hip arthroscopy and conversion to total hip arthroscopy: Trends and survival analysis in the Medicare population. Hip Int. 2022 Mar;32(2):239-245.
Hussain N, Gill J, Speer J, Abdel-Rasoul M, Abd-Elsayed A, Khan S, Nguyen A, Simopoulos T, Weaver T. Evaluating the incidence of spinal cord injury after spinal cord stimulator implant: an updated retrospective review. Reg Anesth Pain Med. 2022 Jul;47(7):401-407.
Jain N, Labaran L, Phillips F, Khan S, Jain A, Kebaish K, Hassanzadeh H. Prevalence of osteoporosis treatment and its effect on post-operative complications, revision surgery and costs after multi-level spinal fusion. Global Spine J. 2022 Jul;12(6):1119-1124.
Khan S, Mageswaran P, Brock G, Eisner M, Ferguson SA, Marras WS. Quantitative dynamic wearable motion-based metric compared to patient-reported outcomes as indicators of functional recovery after lumbar fusion surgery. Clin Biomech (Bristol, Avon). 2022 Jul;97:105706.
Sridharan M, Hatef S, Malik AT, Morris J, Bishop JY, Neviaser AS, Khan SN, Cvetanovich GL. Total shoulder arthroplasty (TSA) at U.S. News & World Report top-ranked hospitals in orthopaedics – Do rankings correlate with complications and cost? Semin Arthroplasty. 2021;3 (3):629-634.
Malik, A.T.; Alexander, J.H.; Khan, S.N.; Scharschmidt, T.J. (2020). Is Treatment at a High-volume Center Associated with an Improved Survival for Primary Malignant Bone Tumors? Clinical orthopaedics and related research, 478 (3), 631-642. doi:10.1097/CORR.0000000000001034
Malik, A.T.; Xie, J.; Retchin, S.M.; Phillips, F.M.; Xu, W.; Yu, E.; Khan, S.N. (2020). Primary Single-level Lumbar Microdisectomy/Decompression at a Free-Standing Ambulatory Surgical Center vs. a Hospital-Owned Outpatient Department - An Analysis of 90-day Outcomes and Costs. Spine J, doi:10.1016/j.spinee.2020.01.015
Malik, A.T.; Alexander, J.H.; Khan, S.N.; Scharschmidt, T.J. (2020). Where Will Pathologic Hip Fractures Go in a Valuebased Hip Fracture Bundle? J Am Acad Orthop Surg, doi:10.5435/JAAOS-D-19-00745
Malik, A.T.; Deiparine, S.; Khan, S.N.; Kim, J.; Yu, E. (2020). Costs Associated With a 90-Day Episode of Care After Single-Level Anterior Lumbar Interbody Fusion. World Neurosurgery, doi:10.1016/j.wneu.2019.12.117 issn:1878-8750