Awards
2027 Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient
Anthony T. Yeung, M.D. (Retired)
Retired Orthopedic Spine Surgeon
Board-Certified
Dr. Anthony Yeung is a board-certified Orthopedic Spine Surgeon who specialized in diagnosing and treating the causes of back pain and sciatica from painful degenerative conditions of the lumbar spine, particularly herniated discs, bulging discs with annular tears, and foraminal stenosis. His techniques have proven to be very effective in relieving both back and leg pain, elusive to many spine specialists because his technique targets and visualizes the pain generator with his endoscope, using imaging as a guide, but confirming the pain source with diagnostic and therapeutic injections. He is the first to use endoscopically guided lasers and is the developer of the FDA approved Yeung Endoscopic Spine System (YESS™).
2026 Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient
Luiz Pimenta, MD, PhD
Luiz Pimenta, born in 1947, completed his education in his homeland, Brazil. He graduated in Medicine from the Medical School of the University of São Paulo in 1971. He started his residency in Neurosurgery in 1972 at the Paulista Medical School, currently Federal University of São Paulo. During residency, Dr. Luiz Pimenta participated in various research projects in Neurosurgery. He finished his residency in 1977 and completed his PhD in Neurosurgery at the same university.
In 1997, Dr. Luiz Pimenta received training in Spinal Endoscopic Surgery in Gainesville, Florida and in 1998 completed a fellowship with Dr. Daniel Rosenthal in Frankfurt, Germany. Since then, Dr. Pimenta has been developing new techniques and technologies to improve the surgical treatment of different spinal pathologies. His primary interests are in minimally invasive and motion preservation spine surgery. He participates in various research and development projects in this area.
Dr. Pimenta is considered the father of the lateral or XLIF approach to the spine. Dr. Pimenta introduced this approach to spine surgery to help preserve the normal anatomical structures of the spine while performing spinal fusion and instrumentation. The approach has been adapted for spinal arthroplasty. He has evolved the procedure to include the prone-transpsoas approach.
MINS is pleased to honor Dr. Luiz Pimenta with its 2026 Lifetime Achievement Award.
2025 Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient
William Tobler, MD
We are pleased to announce that William Tobler, MD, retired neurosurgeon with Mayfield Brain & Spine and current Medical Director of Philanthropy at Mayfield Foundation, is this years MINS Lifetime Achievement Award recipient.
During his distinguished 39-year career at Mayfield Brain & Spine, Dr. William Tobler has kept his sights firmly set on the horizon – the next neurosurgery frontier.
He earned his medical degree at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine in 1978, completed internships in internal medicine and general surgery at Good Samaritan Hospital, and served a residency in neurosurgery at UC Medical Center and Mayfield starting in 1980.
Dr. Tobler joined what was then called the Mayfield Neurological Institute in 1985, establishing his practice at The Christ Hospital.
He has been integrally involved in The Mayfield Spine Surgery Center, The Center for Surgical Innovation and The Mayfield Education & Research Foundation. He has been pioneering advances in spine surgery tools and techniques. And most important of all, caring for the generations of patients on the operating table or sitting with him in clinic.
“The defining vision of Mayfield has always been innovation,” Dr. Tobler said. “At the nexus of clinical care, education, research and innovation is that ‘secret sauce’ that has allowed us to serve patients with excellence for more than 85 years. I have been privileged to play a role in it. I can’t wait to see what Mayfield does next.”
Dr. Tobler will stay involved in the Mayfield Education & Research Foundation as board chair and as medical director of development, helping to generate support for the clinical research and training that is the lifeblood of Mayfield excellence.
“Dr. Tobler personifies both our distinguished legacy and our ambitious plans for the future,” said Dr. Andrew Ringer, chair of Mayfield’s Board of Directors. “As a mentor and friend to so many of us, he has always carried and nurtured the spirit of excellence, innovation and collegiality that has been a hallmark of our independent practice. His contributions to Mayfield will endure.”
During his storied career, Dr. Tobler has performed more than 18,000 surgical cases. He has collaborated on approximately two dozen peer-reviewed articles and a similar number of book chapters. He has given more than 30 international presentations and been invited three times to perform surgeries in other countries. He has led nearly 30 clinical trials as principal investigator or co-investigator.
He also helped train nearly 70 residents and nearly 20 fellows, including many of Mayfield’s current neurosurgeons. And he is one of a select few Mayfield physicians to become a full professor at the University of Cincinnati, until Mayfield separated from UC’s Department of Neurosurgery in 2017.
Dr. Tobler’s innovations and accomplishments include:
- Launching and growth of the Mayfield Spine Surgery Center, including serving as its first medical director from 2006-2009 and as chairman of the Board of Managers since 2010.
- Board chairman of the Mayfield Education & Research Foundation since 2008. During his tenure there, assets have more than quadrupled, and he initiated the concept that became the Mayfield Surgical Innovation Center. MERF is now embarking on an ambitious project of developing a regional brain tumor institute.
- Developed and launched the Pelorus stereotactic surgical system that used the arc-centered ball-and-socket targeting system. Nearly 100 systems were marketed and sold.
- Developed the Mayfield ACCISS computer-based image-guided system. This system uses optical tracking with the ball and socket concept targeting lesions in the brain. This concept is currently used worldwide. Ohio Medical Instrument Co. obtained a patent on the system, evolved from the Pelorus system and since licensed to Medtronic. Royalties were directed to the Mayfield Education & Research Foundation.
- Developed the first electro-magnetic tracking device for image-guided surgery, collaborating with scientists from the Charité Hospital in Berlin.
- Launched the Mayfield MobileSCAN CT, a mobile CT scanner that required the development of specialized tables by Ohio Medical Instrument Co. (Schaerer Medical USA) to position patients for the use of image-guided spine and brain surgery.
MINS is pleased to honor Dr. William Tobler with it’s 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award.
2024 Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient
Hae-Dong Jho, MD & PhD
We are pleased to announce that Hae-Dong Jho, MD & PhD, Professor and Chairman Department of Neuroendoscopy at Allegheny General Hospital Drexel University College of Medicine is this years MINS Lifetime Achievement Award recipient.
Dr. Jho’s contributions to the field of neuroendoscopy are well known and we are honored to recognize his significant achievements.