Zeeshan Akhtar, MD, is an orthopedic spine surgeon at Ochsner Health. Dr. With New York roots, Dr. Akhtar completed his bachelor’s degree from the State University of New York at Geneseo. After graduating from Geneseo, Dr. Akhtar completed his medical school at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky. He stayed at UK to complete his orthopedic surgery residency.

Following residency, Dr. Akhtar completed an integrated neurology / orthopedic spine fellowship at the renowned Virginia Medical Center at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia. There he trained in a multitude of complex spinal surgeries under the direction of nationally recognized spine surgeons.

Dr. Akhtar treats the entire breadth of spine surgical pathologies from the skull base to the sacrum. He has particular interest in minimally invasive spine surgery, lateral spine surgery and motion preservation techniques in spine. He treats patients with a variety of spinal diseases ranging from single level spinal degeneration to those with multilevel pathology requiring large construct interventions.

His research interests primarily focus on patient related outcomes in spine surgery. He has authored publications in the Spine Journal and other national peer reviewed journals. He is involved in national meeting including the North American Spine Society and the Cervical Spine Research Society.

His research is driven by his main goal as a spine surgeon to provided excellent, indicated and patient specific personalized care that will lead to the best possible outcome for his patients.