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Dr. Kern Singh Delivers Keynote on Surgeon Longevity at the World Neurosciences Summit in New Delhi
Date posted: 8/31/2026
Last updated: 8/31/2026
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Dr. Kern Singh, Vice Chair of Clinical Affairs in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Director of the Division of Spine Surgery, was invited to deliver the evening keynote at the World Neurosciences Summit (WNS-V) in New Delhi, India.
The summit, hosted by Medanta and the Medanta Institute of Neurosciences, brought together neurosurgeons and spine surgeons from across India and around the world.
His talk was titled "The Surgeon Athlete: Keys to Longevity."
The premise of the keynote is simple to state and much harder to live: surgeons who train like athletes operate for a lifetime.
Spine surgery, and endoscopic surgery in particular, is physically demanding in ways the field rarely discusses. Long cases, sustained precision, and a career measured in decades all place real physical demands on the surgeon. Dr. Singh made the case that longevity behind the operating table is not only a matter of surgical skill. It is also a matter of physical preparation, recovery, and the discipline an athlete brings to training, applied to a surgical career.
He also addressed the problems that follow when that preparation is missing: surgeon burnout, career-shortening injuries, and precision that erodes over time. Framing surgical longevity the way athletes think about training, through conditioning, recovery, and sustainable mechanics, offers a lens that most surgical education still leaves out.
The talk draws on themes Dr. Singh explores on his podcast, Spinal Strength, and in his forthcoming book of the same name.
