Dr. Scott Spann MD

Born and raised primarily in South Carolina to a Marine Corp family, Dr. Spann went off to high school in Jacksonville, Florida to pursue his goal of making the Olympic Swimming Team.  From there, he started college on a scholarship at Auburn University.  While there, Dr. Spann was named SEC Swimmer of the Year twice, was the Auburn Athlete of the Year, won three individual NCAA titles, and won swimming’s Kiputh Award as the Most Valuable National Swimmer. After his sophomore year he transferred to the University of Texas following his coach, Eddie Reese, in 1978.  After the mandatory red shirt year, Dr. Spann led UT to its first finish in the top 10 in modern times with a 2nd place in NCAA team standings, and as captain his senior year led UT to its first National Championship.  He also captured four NCAA titles while at UT in both individual and relay events. After college graduation, he married his college sweetheart, Beth, started their family in the ensuing years, and has three wonderful children in Austin, Alexi, and Scott Jr.  All have attended UT also on swimming scholarships.  Alexi and Scott Jr. were also Pan American medalists, making them the only father, daughter, son combination in history to do so. From UT, he went to medical school at the University of South Carolina, where he was selected as president of the State Student Section of the American Medical Association. Partnership and Orthopaedic Residency ensued at Ochsner Foundation in New Orleans.  Concomitantly, he enlisted with the US Army Medical Corps and eventually retired with honorable discharge as a Major. Upon completion of residency, he then moved to obtain a fellowship in spine surgery in Atlanta,GA. Dr. Spann established his first private practice in Knoxville, Tennessee, and by his third year of practice he was elected as Chairman of Orthopaedics of the largest hospital system in east Tennessee.  He was then recruited by the world-renowned Frank Noyes in Cincinnati to start the Spine Care Institute.  Here he participated in some of the FDA trials to bring new spinal products to market.  Some of these products are precursors for today’s technology. Dr. Spann sustained a major spinal cord injury in 2005 due to a biking accident.  Initially quadriplegic, though through excellent surgery, rehabilitation, caring from others and most importantly God’s grace, he has been able to resume his meaningful goal of trying to improve other lives using not only his knowledge of the field, but also his own personal experience as a patient. Dr. Spann is the founder and CEO of Pantheon Spinal. As the original developer of the oblique minimally invasive approach and was granted the method patent to the approach, Pantheon spinal is the next industry standard in spine.