Meet Dr. Jason Cuéllar

Jason M. Cuéllar, M.D., Ph.D. is a fellowship-trained, board-certified orthopaedic spine surgeon dedicated to providing compassionate surgical and non-surgical treatments for patients living with spinal disorders. In addition to artificial disk replacement and minimally invasive spine surgery, Dr. Cuéllar provides non-operative treatment of various pain disorders, involving injections of a novel biologic therapy for mild and moderate osteoarthritis. He is affiliated with the Cedars-Sinai Spine Center of Excellence and is partner to Dr. Todd H. Lanman of Lanman Spinal Neurosurgery, as well as Beverly Hills Surgery Center.

Dr. Cuéllar treats various disorders of the spine, including cervical disk herniation, cervical radiculopathy, cervical myelopathy, neck pain, cervical stenosis, cervical disk degeneration, lumbar disk herniation, lumbar radiculopathy, lumbar stenosis, lumbar degenerative disk disease and low back pain.

Prior to medical school, Dr. Cuéllar completed an undergraduate degree in Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior at U.C. Davis, followed by a Ph.D. in Molecular, Cellular and Integrative Physiology, where he researched the mechanisms of pain and pain pathophysiology within the spinal cord, undertaking scientific research to determine how a disc herniation causes pain at the molecular level. After completing his Ph.D., Dr. Cuéllar attended world-class medical education at Stanford University Medical School. Throughout his medical school training Dr. Cuéllar continued to work in a pain research laboratory, completing post-doctoral research and a year as a medical scholars research fellow.

Dr. Cuéllar completed his training in orthopaedic surgery at the prestigious New York University-Hospital for Joint Diseases (NYU-HJD). During this 6-year training period he treated patients at the two busiest level-1 trauma centers in New York state. He received training in spinal surgery from several world-renowned spine surgeons, before completing his final year of training at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, in the spinal disorders fellowship.

Dr. Cuéllar has been involved in clinical scientific research investigating the mechanisms of pain for patients with osteoarthritis and other musculoskeletal pain since 2000. His work has led to the development of a new, injectable anti-inflammatory treatment for musculoskeletal pain in the hip, spine, shoulder, knee and Achilles tendonitis, as well as for tennis elbow and other disorders.

Dr. Cuéllar is a member of ISASS – The International Society for the Advancement of Spine Surgery.

As a spine surgery patient himself, Dr. Cuéllar knows how it feels first hand to suffer from lumbar spine issues. His only regret is that it didn’t happen sooner! It’s this firsthand experience that feeds into his empathetic approach to treating his patients. Dr. Cuéllar prides himself on ensuring every patient receives significant face time, ensuring all questions are answered and any concerns are addressed, rather than being passed on to assistants.

Dr. Cuéllar firmly believes in patient responsibility and ownership when it comes to making informed treatment decisions. He is committed to working closely with his patients from diagnosis through to treatment options and aftercare throughout the healing process, whether or not surgery is undertaken.