Chair, Spine Clinical Quality Improvement
Associate Program Director, Neurological Surgery Residency Program
Assistant Professor, Department of Neurological Surgery
To see if Allan R. Martin is accepting new patients, or for assistance finding a UC Davis doctor, please call 800-2-UCDAVIS (800-282-3284).
Phone: 916-734-7463
Fax: 916-734-1770
Dr. Martin approaches each patient in the same friendly manner, with open communication and thoughtful consideration. He will ensure that all of the appropriate imaging and diagnostic tests have been performed, and he prides himself in taking the time necessary to explain the diagnosis and all treatment options. He believes strongly in patient-centered care and shared decision-making to select the best course of treatment for each individual patient.
Dr. Martin is a neurosurgeon offering specialized care for patients with various spine conditions. His surgical practice includes treating patients with spinal deformity (e.g. scoliosis, kyphosis, spondylolisthesis), trauma, tumors, degenerative conditions (e.g. cervical myelopathy, lumbar stenosis, disc herniations), inflammatory conditions (e.g. Rheumatoid Arthritis), infections, connective tissue disorders (e.g. Ehlers Danlos), and syringomyelia. He uses state-of-the-art technologies such as intraoperative neuro-monitoring, image-guidance, robotics, and minimally invasive surgery (MIS) to ensure that he delivers surgical treatment at the highest level of quality and safety.
Dr. Martin is a leader in advanced spinal cord imaging, technology research, and clinical outcomes research with more than 65 peer-reviewed journal publications, numerous research awards, and patents. He is an Engineer with a keen interest in technology that improves patient care and outcomes, including the investigation and clinical translation of innovative MRI methods (e.g. diffusion and myelin imaging) to characterize spinal cord microstructure and tissue injury. His research laboratory has several areas of focus, including 1) quantification of spinal cord microstructure using and other novel technologies; 2) development of clinical measures to assess spinal cord function; 3) automated image analysis; and 4) innovation of tools for surgical planning, deformity correction, image-guided surgery, and robotic surgery.
Neurological Surgery
B.Ap.Sc., Engineering Science, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada 1999
M.D., University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada 2011
Ph.D., Quantitative Spinal Cord MRI, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada 2017
Neurosurgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada 2011-2019
Complex Spine Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada 2019-2020
AO Spine Spinal Cord Injury Knowledge Forum Research Award, 2022, 2023
Charles Kuntz Scholar Award, AANS/CNS Joint Section on Disorders of the Spine and Peripheral Nerves, 2017, 2020
Post Residency Clinical Fellowship, Neurosurgery Research & Education Foundation (NREF), 2019, 2020
Best Resident Paper, Canadian Spine Society (CSS), 2016, 2017
Research Fellowship, Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), 2016, 2017
A full list of publications for Dr. Martin can be found at:
Pubmed: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/?term=Martin+AR%5BAuthor%5D
Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=VPMeoBgAAAAJ
Soufi KH, Perez TM, Umoye AO, Yang J, Burgos M, Martin AR. How Is Spinal Cord Function Measured in Degenerative Cervical Myelopathy? A Systematic Review. J Clin Med. 2022 Mar 5;11(5):1441. doi:10.3390/jcm11051441. PMID:35268533.
Martin AR, Tetreault L, Nouri A, Curt A, Freund P, Rahimi-Movaghar V, Wilson JR, Fehlings MG, Kwon BK, Harrop JS, Davies BM, Kotter MRN, Guest JD, Aarabi B, Kurpad SN. Imaging and Electrophysiology for Degenerative Cervical Myelopathy [AO Spine RECODE-DCM Research Priority Number 9]. Global Spine J. 2022 Feb;12(1_suppl):130S-146S. doi:10.1177/21925682211057484. Epub 2021 Nov 19. PMID:34797993.
Ghaffari-Rafi A, Peterson C, Leon-Rojas JE, Tadokoro N, Lange SF, Kaushal M, Tetreault L, Fehlings MG, Martin AR. The Role of Magnetic Resonance Imaging to Inform Clinical Decision-Making in Acute Spinal Cord Injury: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. J Clin Med. 2021 Oct 26;10(21):4948. doi:10.3390/jcm10214948. PMID:34768468.
Martin AR, Jentzsch T, Wilson JRF, Moghaddamjou A, Jiang F, Rienmueller A, Badhiwala JH, Akbar MA, Nater A, Oitment C, Ganau M, Massicotte EM, Fehlings MG. Inter-rater Reliability of the Modified Japanese Orthopedic Association Score in Degenerative Cervical Myelopathy: A Cross-sectional Study. Spine (Phila Pa 1976). 2021 Aug 15;46(16):1063-1069. doi:10.1097/BRS.0000000000003956. PMID:33492085.
Martin AR, Kalsi-Ryan S, Akbar MA, Rienmueller AC, Badhiwala JH, Wilson JR, Tetreault LA, Nouri A, Massicotte EM, Fehlings MG. Clinical outcomes of nonoperatively managed degenerative cervical myelopathy: an ambispective longitudinal cohort study in 117 patients. J Neurosurg Spine. 2021 Apr 9:1-9. doi:10.3171/2020.9.SPINE201395. Epub ahead of print. PMID:33836502.
Martin AR, De Leener B, Cohen-Adad J, Kalsi-Ryan S, Cadotte DW, Wilson JR, Tetreault L, Nouri A, Crawley A, Mikulis DJ, Ginsberg H, Massicotte EM, Fehlings MG. Monitoring for myelopathic progression with multiparametric quantitative MRI. PLoS One. 2018 Apr 17;13(4):e0195733. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0195733. Erratum in: PLoS One. 2018 Sep 12;13(9):e0204082. PMID:29664964.
Martin AR, De Leener B, Cohen-Adad J, Cadotte DW, Nouri A, Wilson JR, Tetreault L, Crawley A, Mikulis DJ, Ginsberg H, Fehlings MG. Can microstructural MRI detect subclinical tissue injury in subjects with asymptomatic cervical spinal cord compression? A prospective cohort study. BMJ Open. 2018;8(4):e019809.
Fehlings MG, Tetreault LA, Riew KD, Middleton JW, Aarabi B, Arnold PM, Brodke DS, Burns AS, Carette S, Chen R, Chiba K, Dettori JR, Furlan JC, Harrop JS, Holly LT, Kalsi-Ryan S, Kotter M, Kwon BK, Martin AR, Milligan J, Nakashima H, Nagoshi N, Rhee J, Singh A, Skelly AC, Sodhi S, Wilson JR, Yee A, Wang JC. A Clinical Practice Guideline for the Management of Patients With Degenerative Cervical Myelopathy: Recommendations for Patients With Mild, Moderate, and Severe Disease and Nonmyelopathic Patients With Evidence of Cord Compression. Global Spine J. 2017 Sep;7(3 Suppl):70S-83S. doi:10.1177/2192568217701914. Epub 2017 Sep 5. PMID:29164035.
Fehlings MG, Martin AR, Tetreault LA, Aarabi B, Anderson P, Arnold PM, Brodke D, Burns AS, Chiba K, Dettori JR, Furlan JC, Hawryluk G, Holly LT, Howley S, Jeji T, Kalsi-Ryan S, Kotter M, Kurpad S, Kwon BK, Marino RJ, Massicotte E, Merli G, Middleton JW, Nakashima H, Nagoshi N, Palmieri K, Singh A, Skelly AC, Tsai EC, Vaccaro A, Wilson JR, Yee A, Harrop JS. A Clinical Practice Guideline for the Management of Patients With Acute Spinal Cord Injury: Recommendations on the Role of Baseline Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Clinical Decision Making and Outcome Prediction. Global Spine J. 2017 Sep;7(3 Suppl):221S-230S. doi:10.1177/2192568217703089. Epub 2017 Sep 5. PMID:29164028.