Lee Hunter Riley III

Dr. LEE HUNTER RILEY III is Professor in the Departments of Orthopaedic Surgery and Neurosurgery. He is Vice Chair of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Chief of the Orthopaedic Spine Division. Dr. Riley is a recognized leader within the Johns Hopkins Medical Institution serving on numerous University, Hospital, Clinical Practice Association and Departmental committees both as an active member and chairman. In addition to his extensive clinical, administrative and teaching commitments, Dr. Riley is an internationally known spine surgeon who has contributed substantially to the core knowledge of patient outcomes following anterior cervical discectomy and fusion and to the emerging field of modifiable cognitive-behavioral factors that affect outcome following lumbar spine surgery. He has contributed significantly to program development for the Spine Division within the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, founding the Spine Outcomes Research Center (SOURCE), expanding the spine fellowship and obtaining competitive educational extramural funding for the fellowship program. Dr. Riley is also an active leader as a committee and board member in numerous national and international Orthopaedic and Spine organizations.

Dr. Riley graduated summa cum laude with a BA in Russian from Haverford College. He received his MD from Johns Hopkins University where he also completed his Orthopaedic Surgery residency. After a year of research in spine biomechanics at the Free University of Berlin, Dr. Riley completed a clinical spine fellowship at the University of Miami, School of Medicine. He then joined the full-time faculty at the Medical College of Wisconsin as an assistant professor of Orthopaedic Surgery. Recruited to the Johns Hopkins Department of Orthopaedic Surgery as an assistant professor in 1996, Dr. Riley became Chief of the Division of Spine Surgery in 2003 and was Director of the Orthopaedic Spine Fellowship Program from 2003 to 2013.

After moving to Johns Hopkins, Dr. Riley developed an interest in outcomes research. He was principle investigator of a multi-center study coordinated at Johns Hopkins and sponsored by the Cervical Spine Research Society involving 23 sites nation-wide which furthered understanding of the factors affecting outcome and the methods necessary to assess outcome of patients undergoing anterior cervical discectomy and fusion. Currently, he is studying the role of modifiable cognitive-behavioral factors on outcomes following elective spine surgery with SOURCE Director Dr. Richard Skolasky. Dr. Riley has further contributed to spine education through his books and monographs, including co-editing the Atlas of Surgery of the Spine, and co-authoring The Back Book.

Dr. Riley and his wife Kim are the devoted parents of Lauren and Tom.