Patrick A. Roth, MD

Neurosurgeon, Co-Founder

It’s the humanity and not the hands that separates surgeons. That’s why I’m so committed to learning, teaching, and mentoring. Those things have made me a better person and a better doctor.

Overview

Dr. Roth is one of the leading surgeons in the country for the treatment of spinal disorders. He is a board-certified neurosurgeon and founding member of New Jersey Brain and Spine, a prestigious, multi-specialized group of neurosurgeons with locations across northern New Jersey. In practice for more than 25 years, Dr. Roth is a strong advocate for minimally invasive surgery and the use of nonsurgical methods to treat back pain.

He is the Chairman of Neurosurgery at Hackensack University Medical Center (HUMC), director of the spinal surgery division, and site director of the neurosurgical residency program. Dr. Roth is also the Founding Chair of Neurosurgery at the Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine. In addition to his medical degree, Dr. Roth holds a master’s in healthcare administration Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University which he recently attained to better understand the structure of healthcare and the relationship of healthcare to health.

Dr. Roth has managed the Neurosurgery Residency Program at HUMC for nearly 20 years, served as a perennial teacher of third year medical students, and regularly mentors high school and college students interested in a career in medicine. Dr. Roth teaches a class at the Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine called Human Dimensions, which focuses on the social determinants of health.

Dr. Roth embraces a holistic approach to back, neck, arm, and leg pain, with a focus on the promotion of health rather than the treatment of disease. His treatment recommendations are based on an understanding of each patient’s repertoire of activities and their personal goals.

Biographical Highlights

Medical School

Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Residency

Tufts University

Advanced Fellowship Training

Dr. Roth has served in numerous leadership positions at The Valley Hospital, Holy Name Medical Center and Pascack Valley Medical Center. He loves to teach and mentor students, and he’s also an avid writer. He recently published a book focusing on the philosophy, paradoxes, and treatment of back pain. His outside interests include exercising, reading, music, and sports.

Best Doctor, New York Magazine: Perennial Recipient
Bergen County Top Doctor, Bergen Magazine: Perennial Recipient
Jersey’s Best Magazine Top Doctors: 2022
Best Doctor, Inside Jersey: Perennial Recipient
Top Doctor, Castle Connolly: Perennial Recipient
Top Doctor, Doctors Across America: Perennial Recipient
Patient’s Choice Award, Vitals: Perennial Recipient
Five Stars of Caring Award: Perennial Recipient
America’s Top Surgeons, Castle Connolly: Perennial Recipient

Clara Maass Medical Center
Englewood Health
Hackensack Meridian Health Palisades Medical Center
Hackensack Meridian Health Mountainside Medical Center
Hackensack Meridian Health Pascack Valley Medical Center
Hackensack University Medical Center
Holy Name Medical Center
Hudson Regional Hospital
Saint Barnabas Medical Center
The Valley Hospital

Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society
American Association of Neurological Surgeons
American Medical Association
Bergen County Medical Society
Congress of Neurosurgery
Diplomat, American Board of Spine Surgery
Fellow, American College of Surgeons

THE END OF BACK PAIN

Patrick Roth, MD, believes that most of what you have been told about back pain is completely wrong. In The End of Back Pain, Dr. Roth introduces a novel way of both conceptualizing and treating back pain.

Pain is explored within the context of a dynamic brain/body relationship. A method of treating back pain by strengthening a set of muscles referred to as the “hidden core” is introduced, which features the use of kettlebells. The book also features a diagnose yourself section, a surgeon’s perspective of conservative and surgical treatments for back pain, and a prediction of how back pain will be treated in the next decade.

Purchase on Amazon

Endorsements

Daniel Pink
Author of When; Drive; To Sell is Human; The Power of Regret

“THE END OF BACK PAIN offers a rare opportunity to peer into the heart and mind of a neurosurgeon, one who uses both his humanity and his hands to treat patients. You’ll finish this remarkable book more optimistic about the future of health care.”

Edward Benzel, MD
Chairman of Neurosurgery, Cleveland Clinic
Patrick Roth courageously addresses the chronic pain epidemic/crisis head on. Chronic pain consumes 1/4 of our healthcare expenditures in North America. Why is this so? Well, physicians treat these patients as if they had acute pain. They operate, they do procedures, and they prescribe narcotic medication — all of which are doomed to failure in this patient population. Dr. Roth offers a solution and provides not only a rationale for dealing with chronic back pain, but also provides structure for orchestrated recovery. Bottom line, this is a GREAT BOOK. Must reading for anyone with a back.

Mark Bilsky, MD
Chief of Spine Surgery at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
Pat Roth has done a masterful job describing the complex mechanisms that create back pain, a leading cause of morbidity and disability in the United States. Spine surgeons have developed sophisticated techniques to treat back pain, but Dr, Roth elucidates exercise techniques to strengthen core muscles that will hopefully keep the majority of us off the operating table and out of pain. The book is a phenomenal treatise on the management of back pain by a cutting-edge surgeon who sees the bigger picture.

Michael Kelly, MD
Chairman of the Department of Orthopedics, Hackensack University Medical Center
As a busy orthopedic surgeon, my chronic low back pain has been an obstacle to enjoying a pleasant day for many years. I have been treated with a variety of exercise programs, injections, and pain medications. The unique approach so clearly presented in Dr Roth’s The End of Back Pain is an outstanding and simple way to conquer your pain and improve your quality of life. Understanding and treating your “hidden core” will assuredly help you as it did me.

Walter Bortz, MD
Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine
Dr. Roth’s book addresses one of the greatest embarrassments of American Medicine, treatment of back pain. The current system rather than helping this epidemic condition acts as a co-conspirator through wrong counsel and practice. Dr. Roth’s book is the antidote to this malpractice.

Carl B. Heilman, MD
Chairman of Neurosurgery at Tufts University School of Medicine
Dr. Roth’s ‘stackable’ exercise program is designed to strengthen the muscles on all sides of the spine, providing an inner support structure to minimize exacerbations of back pain. If patients with chronic back pain are willing to put forth the effort Dr. Roth prescribes, most will be able to take control of their back pain future.

Steven Kirschblum, MD
Medical director at Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation
For those suffering from low back pain, Dr. Roth offers a unique program that combines the body and mind in a clear, thorough, and meaningful way.

Richard D. Guyer, MD
Chairman of Texas Back Institute
I highly recommend this book to any back pain sufferer who is interested in controlling their back pain. In fact I will make this required reading for spine fellow surgeons that train with us every year.

John Du Cane
CEO, Dragon Door Publications
As the co-founder in 2001 of RKC, the world’s first kettlebell instructor certification system—and as the originator of the modern kettlebell movement—I have long championed the skilled use of kettlebells to help reduce or prevent back pain. I therefore applaud Dr. Roth for his compelling, well-reasoned and eminently practical explanation of how the diligent application of this core-strengthening tool can have a profound impact on back health. Accessible medical science vindicates ancient exercise wisdom in Dr. Roth’s impressive contribution to a healthier, safer world.

THE ME IN MEDICINE

Patrick A. Roth, MD, reveals eye-opening stories from his decades-long career that demonstrate how modern medicine is not what you think it is. He openly and bravely discusses his current conflicted view of medicine, one filled with awe and a sense that medicine is broken.

This is a book for everyone – doctors, patients, and healthcare providers – describing an approach for reducing misdirection and overtreatment. Having recognized the problem, Dr. Roth now wants to be part of the solution—and he suggests you need to be, too.

Purchase on Amazon

Endorsements

Alan R. Cohen, MD
Professor of Neurosurgery, Oncology and Pediatrics / Chief of Pediatric Neurosurgery The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
A passionate, incisive, fascinating behind-the-scenes exposé of today’s flawed healthcare. The Me in Medicine reveals how doctors and patients have automatically bought into a ‘system’ that appears sound and yet disappoints. This is a must-read for doctors and patients alike—and everyone who cares about getting back to the heart of good medicine today. Sir William Osler reminded us that ‘the good physician treats the disease; the great physician treats the patient who has the disease.’ Likewise, the good surgeon learns how to cut; the great surgeon, like Patrick Roth, learns that the tongue may be sharper than the scalpel.

Carl Heilman, MD
Chairman and Professor / Department of Neurosurgery Tufts University School of Medicine
Dr. Roth delivers an intriguing and entertaining review of the complicated flaws present in our current healthcare system. With compelling perspectives from history, philosophy, science and literature, Roth clarifies how we have gotten here, and where we are headed. This is a story about us, physicians, and patients, and what we can do together on the ground to transform our most fundamental connections. An interesting and thought-provoking read!

Bonita Stanton
Dean and Professor of Pediatrics / Seton Hall-Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine
A thoughtful and thought-provoking book… regarding the critical aspects of being a physician: the patient-doctor relationship. Through this lens, Dr. Roth explores the richness and power of this relationship…A beautifully written book…Health professional and patients alike will learn so much.

Danielle Ofri, MD, PhD
Author of What Patients Say, What Doctors Hear
A call to arms to reaffirm the humanity of medicine for both doctors and patients alike. While not shying away from the high-tech innovations that advance medical science, Roth reminds us that we can’t lose sight of the primary focus of medicine: compassionate healing.

Florian Thomas
Chair / Neurosciences Hackensack University Medical Center
Patrick Roth’s book is important and timely. He provides incisive, real-life perspective and advice to patients and health care providers based on his decades-spanning track record as an academic neurosurgeon. He articulates what makes a physician tick. Roth explains persuasively what patients should seek in a good surgeon. It is not just the technical brilliance, the attention to pre- and post-op care, but also the empathy, ability, and willingness to understand patients’ narrative, the sine qua non of linking a patient’s problem to the procedure and the condition for a rewarding outcome. And it is the combination of modesty and confidence that allows the doctor to admit to uncertainty and ambiguity. I expect people who embrace Roth’s thoughts and advice will become better prepared as patients and health care providers.