Dr Bradley Jacobs

Biography

Dr. Brad Jacobs completed his neurosurgical residency at the University of Toronto and then pursued an orthopaedic spinal surgery fellowship at the University of Washington/Harborview Medical Center in Seattle under the mentorship of Drs. Jens Chapman, Carlo Bellabarba and Rick Bransford. After his spinal surgery fellowship, Dr. Jacobs started his practice at the University of Calgary and Foothills Medical Centre in 2009 as a spinal surgeon member of the Division of Neurosurgery and the Calgary Spine Program. Prior to his recruitment to Vancouver General Hospital/UBC, Dr. Jacobs served as Chair of the Calgary Spine Program from 2019 – 2025 and, during this tenure, oversaw its growth into the largest single-site spinal surgery program in Canada. Dr. Jacobs’ practice is primarily concentrated on adult spinal deformity with a specific interest in cervical spinal deformity and minimally invasive anterolateral access to the thoracolumbar spine. His research interests are currently focused on the development of clinical care optimization pathways for adult spinal deformity patients. He is also a major contributor to the Canadian Spine Outcomes & Research Network (CSORN) Deformity registry and serves as lead for the CSORN Fractional Curve Deformity registry sub-study. Dr. Jacobs is an internationally recognized spinal surgery educator who has taught residents, fellows and surgeons on a wide array of spinal surgery topics at a multitude of national and international venues. Dr. Jacobs is the Chair-Elect of the AOSpine North America Education Committee, the Education Chair of the Canadian Spine Society and is currently overseeing the implementation of the Global Spine Diploma Curriculum for all AO Spine North America fellowships, encompassing 49 institutions and 121 spinal surgery fellows. These extensive educational contributions have been recognized via his receipt of the 2024 AO North America John France Educator of the Year Award.