Rachel Ann Bratescu, MD

Rachel Bratescu, MD, is among the few surgeons in the United States who have completed separate spine fellowships in both orthopaedics and neurosurgery. She specializes in complex and revision spinal surgery, including multilevel deformity, as well as minimally invasive and ultra-minimally invasive surgical techniques.

Endoscopic spine surgery, performed through either a single portal or two small portals, represents the most advanced form of ultra-minimally invasive spine surgery available to treat conditions such as disc herniation and spinal stenosis. Dr. Bratescu is trained in both uniportal and biportal endoscopic techniques.

Dr. Bratescu earned her medical degree from Georgetown University School of Medicine and completed her orthopaedic surgery residency at Houston Methodist Hospital. She then completed a combined orthopaedic and neurosurgical spine fellowship at NYU Langone Medical Center and the Hospital for Joint Diseases, with an emphasis on complex and revision spinal deformity and robotic-assisted techniques, followed by a second fellowship in MIS/complex spinal neurosurgery at Weill Cornell Medicine and New York-Presbyterian Hospital, training under Dr. Roger Härtl, internationally recognized for pioneering minimally invasive approaches to complex spinal disorders. Dr. Bratescu was the first orthopaedic surgeon accepted into the neurosurgery fellowship and the first female spine surgeon at Och Spine, the unified spine institute between Weill Cornell Medicine and Columbia University.

Dr. Bratescu is board certified, has been awarded the AO Global Spine Diploma, and has been honored by the North American Spine Society (NASS) as one of the top 20 spine surgeons in North America under age 40, an accolade from Spine Line’s “20 Under Age 40” list. She has also been included in Becker’s list of “15 Rising Stars in Spine Surgery to Know.”

Prior to joining Johns Hopkins, Dr. Bratescu was an assistant professor and attending spine surgeon at George Washington University, practicing at a Level I trauma center and treating the highest-acuity spinal injuries.