Clinical Professor Samer Ghostine, M.D., chief of neurosurgery and director of neuroscience at Riverside Community Hospital (RCH), joined the UCR School of Medicine after working in health care and medical education with the Loma Linda University Medical Center and the UC Irvine School of Medicine.

Ghostine is involved in building centers of excellence in spine, neuro-oncology and stroke for the Inland Empire and serves as a link in the collaborative effort between RCH and UCR SOM. He also takes the time to travel to Apple Valley, Calif. twice a month to provide neurosurgery services to patients who are unable to travel to Riverside to get the care they need.

“The connection with those in Apple Valley started when I worked with Loma Linda and UCI, and the relationship was maintained when I started at Riverside,” Ghostine said. “We continue to go because we constantly receive good feedback and are appreciated by those in the area.”

In early 2018, Ghostine and colleague Sam Bederman, M.D., Ph.D., performed the first complex spinal surgery in Riverside using MazorX™, a state-of-the-art guidance system for spine surgery deployed in 2018 at Riverside Community Hospital.