The Debbie Scarlett Award is a $1,000 prize that is awarded at the Canadian Spine Society’s Annual Scientific Conference for Best Paper annually since 2008.

Funding for this award is through a bequest of a former patient of a CSS member. Debbie Scarlett faced her illness and multiple surgeries with great courage and dignity, touching the lives of all she came in contact with. Her family is grateful for the opportunity to remember her through this award.

The winner of this award is determined by the CSS Program Committee and one member at large as selected by the Program Committee Chair. All judges are members of the Canadian Spine Society. One paper is selected each day for the three days of scientific presentations at the annual conference and the winner is then selected from these top three papers. The award is presented on the final day of the conference each year.

2024 Debbie Scarlett Award Winner

Dr. Brian Kwon for his paper entitled: The association between mean arterial blood pressure augmentation and intraparenchymal hemorrhage after acute spinal cord injury

Read the abstract

Past Winners:

2023 – Dr. Michael Bond
Wait Times for Degenerative Lumbar spine consultation and surgery: A repeated cross-sectional analysis of the Canadian Spine Outcomes and Research Network
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2022 – Lukas Grassner
Motor Recovery Depends on Timing of Surgery in Patients WIth Lumbar Disc Herniation
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2021 – Dr. Jean Marc Mac-Thiong
Does participating in a national spinal cord injury registry improve actual patient outcomes?
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2020 – Dr. Stefan Parent & Dr. Jesse Shen
Ovine Model of Congenital Chest Wall and Spine Deformity With Alterations of Respiratory Mechanics: Follow-Up From Birth to Three Months
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2019 – Dr. Daniel Banaszek
Efficacy and Cost-Effectiveness of Photodynamic Therapy in Prevention of Surgical Site Infection
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2018 – Neil Manson et al
Pre-operative psychological factors significantly add to the predictability of chronic narcotic use: A 2 year Prospective Study
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2017 – Dr. Y. Raja Rampersaud
Predictors of failure to achieve minimal clinical important improvement following a stratified education and non-surgical self-management program for low back pain (LBP)
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2016 – Dr. Brian Kwon
Classifying Injury Severity and Predicting Neurologic Outcome after Acute Human Spinal Cord Injury with Cerebrospinal Fluid Biomarkers
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2014 – Bruce Hodgson
Surgical Correction of Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis Without Fusion: An Animal Model.
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2013 – Jerome Paquet
Implementing the Ideal Model of Care for Patients who Sustain an Acute Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury: What Could we Expect?
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2012 – Dr. Alain Moreau
Brace versus no brace for the treatment of thoracolumbar burst fractures without neurologic injury: A Multicenter Prospective Randomized Control Trial
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2011 – Dr. Alain Moreau
Role of Osteopontin biological pathway in AIS pathogenesis: How these findings could be useful for spine surgeons?
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2010 – Dr. Daryl Fourney
A Revised Spinal Instability Neoplastic Score (SINS): Final Results of a Validity and Reliability Analysis
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2009 – Dr. Samuel Bederman
Understanding Patient and Physician Preferences for Surgery on the Degenerative Lumbar Spine

2008 – Dr. Raj Rampersaud
Direct Cost Effectiveness Assessment of Surgical Intervention for Focal Spinal Stenosis Compared to Primary Hip and Knee Replacement for Osteoarthritis
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